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Louis XIV crowned by Victory 





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Copyright, 1905, by 
The Century Co. 



Ptiblished October, igo^ 



Bequest 

Albert Adeit Olemonfl 

Aug. 34, 1038 

* (|?Qt available lor exohang**? 



THE DEVINNE PRESS 



2/2- 



CONTENTS 
I. THE PALACE 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I The Construction of the Chateau 3 

II The Courtyards 7 

III The Ambassadors' Staircase 13 

IV The State Apartments of the King .... 16 
V The Grand Gallery and its Salons ,22 

VI The State Apartments of the Queen .... 2.6 

VII The Private Apartments of the King .... 34 

VIII The Apartments of Madame de Maintenon . 43 
IX The Grand Hall of the Guards and Other 

Apartments 46 

X The Apartments of Monseigneur 49 

XI Various Apartments on THE Ground Floor . . 51 

XII The Chapel 54 

XIII The Grand Commun 58 

XIV The King's Stables 67 

XV The Kennels and the Hunting-Train .... 74 

II. THE PARK 

I The Gardens 81 

II The Terrace, The Fountains and Bosquets . . 87 
III The Orangery 99 

V 



Contents 



CHAPTER PAGE 

IV The Kitchen-Garden loi 

V The Menagerie 103 

VI Trianon 106 

VII The Parks 113 

VIII The Cost of Versailles 115 

"■' IX The Meaning of Versailles 117 

X The Fetes of Versailles , 120 

XI Marly 128 



III. THE KING 

I The Service of the King 147 

II His Daily Life 154 

III His Method of Work . 180 

iv His Personal Appearance and Character . . 184 

V Etiquette 220 



IV. THE COURT 

I Madame de Maintenon 227 

II Monseigneur -249 

hi The Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne .... 272 

IV The Due d'Anjou 294 

V The Due and Duchesse de Berry ...... 297 

VI Monsieur and Madame . 302 

VII The Due and Duchesse de Chartres .... 321 

VIII The King's Children 328 

IX The Nobility 336 

X Mechanism of the Court Life ...... 344 

- XI Manners and Morals of the Courtiers . . . 355 

. XII Pleasures of the Courtiers 364 

vi 



Contents 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XIII The Fetes 374 

XIV The Ceremonies 395 

XV The Theater 404 

XVI The Seamy Side . 410 

XVII The Court and Paris 416 

xviii The Court and the People 420 

XIX The End of the Reign 425 

Index 441 



Vll 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Louis XIV crowned by Victory Frontispiece 

(From the painting by Mignard in the Museum of Versailles) 

FACING PAGE 

Plan of the first floor of the Chateau of Versailles in the time of 

Louis XIV 4 

(From Dussieux's Le Chateau de Versailles) 

The Chateau of Versailles from the Place d'Armes 7 

The Marble Court 10 

The Reception of the Great Conde by Louis XIV at Versailles . . 13 
(From the painting by Gerome in the Metropolitan Museum) 

The Salon of Venus 17 

Charles Lebrun 21 

(From the portrait by himself) 

The Grand Gallery 24 

Marie Therese, Queen of France 28 

(From the painting by Beaubrun in the Museum of Versailles) 

The Marble Staircase 32 

The Grand Antechamber of the King, or CEil-de-Boeuf ..... 35 

The Hall of the Council, formerly the Cabinet of Louis XIV ... 40 

The Salon of the Clocks, formerly the Cabinet of Agates .... 46 

The Chapel from the Court of the Ministers 54 

The Interior of the Chapel 56 

Jules Hardouin Mansart 59 

(From the painting by Rigaud) 

Equestrian Statue of Louis XIV in the Royal Courtyard, Versailles 72 

Andre Le Notre 82 

(From the painting by Maratta) 

Facade of the Chateau from the Terrace 85 

The Fountain and Parterre of Latona 88 

The Royal AUee from the Basin of Apollo 92 

ix 



List of Illustrations 

FACING PAGE 

The Basin of Neptune and the Bosquets of the Arch of Triumph 
and of the Three Fountains in the time of Louis XIV .... 95 
(From the painting by Martin in the Museum of Versailles) 

Apollo and the Nymphs 96 

(From the group by Girardon in the Baths of Apollo) 

The Colonnade 99 

The Chateau and the Orangery 100 

'Plan of the Gardens of Versailles 104 

(From Dussieux's Le Chateau de Versailles) 

Trianon from the Courtyard 109 

The Salon des Glaces, Trianon no 

The Parterre du Midi 113 

■Plan of the Palace, Park, and Town of Versailles 116 

The Parterre du Nord 118 

Louise Frangoise de la Baume-le-Blanc, Duchesse de la Valliere . 123 

(From a painting by Mignard, belonging to M. A. M. le Berquier, 
Paris, France) 

Anne of Austria 126 

(From a painting in the Museum of Versailles) 

Anne Marie de la Tremoille, Princesse des Ursins 137 

The Chateau from the Royal Courtyard 148 

Louis XIII crowned by Victory 152 

(From the painting by Champagne) 

The Bedchamber of Louis XIV IS7 

Louis XIV breakfasting with Moliere 164 

(From the painting by Vetter in the Luxembourg) 

Louis XIV in the Gardens of Trianon 173 

(From the painting by Martin in the Museum of Versailles) 

Jean Baptiste Colbert 181 

(From the painting by Nanteuil) 

Louis XIV 184 

(From the painting by Rigaud in the Louvre) 

Anne of Austria, regent, asking a blessing for her children, Louis 
XIV and Philippe of France 188 

(From the painting by Champagne in the Museum of Versailles) 

The Marriage of Louis XIV and Marie Therese . 193 

(From the painting by Lebrun in the Museum of Versailles) 

Louis XIV in the Gardens of Versailles 200 

(From the painting by Martin in the Museum of Versailles) 

X 



List of Illustrations 

FACING PAGE 

Jacques Benigne Bossuet 208 

(From the painting by Rigaud in the Louvre) 

The Basin of Apollo 216 

Frangoise Athena'is de Rochechouart, Marquise de Montespan . . . 232 

(From the painting by Netscher in the Roj'al Gallery of Dresden) 

Frangoise d'Aubigne, Marquise de Maintenon 242 

(From the painting by Mignard in the Museum of Versailles) 

Louis of France, Grand Dauphin 249 

(From an old print) 

The Grand Dauphin and his Family 255 

(From the painting by Mignard in the Museum of Versailles) 

The Vestibule, Trianon , . . . 264 

Louis of France, Due de Bourgogne 277 

Marie Adelaide, Duchesse de Bourgogne 284 

(From the painting by Santerre in the Museum of Versailles) 

The Duchesse de Bourgogne as Diana 289 

(From the statue by Coyzevox in the Museum of Versailles) 

Philippe of France, Due d'Anjou and King of Spain ....,, 295 

(From the painting by Rigaud in the Louvre) 

Philippe of France, Due d'Orleans , . , 304 

Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans, Princess Palatine . . 312 

(From the painting by Rigaud in the Museum of Versailles) 

Philippe, Due de Chartres and Due d'Orleans 323 

Mademoiselle de Blois, Duchesse de Chartres and Duchesse 
d'Orleans . 326 

(From a painting in the Museum of Versailles) 

Mademoiselle de Blois, La Grande Princesse de Conti . . . 331 

(From the painting by Nattier in the Museum of Versailles) 

Anne Louise Benedicte de Bourbon, Duchesse du Maine . . . » , 334 

(From the painting by Mignard in the Museum of Versailles) 

Henri de Latour d'Auvergne, Marechal de Turenne 338 

(From an old print) 

Louis de Rouvroy, Due de Saint-Simon 342 

(From a painting of the French School of the XVII Century) 

Louis XIV, the Princess Palatine and Madame de Maintenon re- 
ceiving the Electoral Prince of Saxony 351 

(From the painting by Silvestre in the Museum of Versailles) 

xi 



List of Illustrations 

FACING PAGE 

Mademoiselle de Chartres, Princesse de Conti ........ 360 

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sevigne 368 

(From the painting by Mignard) 

The Basin of Flora, Versailles 376 

The Basin of Neptune 385 

La Saone, bronze group on the Terrace, Versailles 393 

La Dordogne, bronze group on the Terrace, Versailles . . . . . 400 

Jean Baptiste Poquelin (Moliere) 408 

(From a painting of the French School of the XVII Century) 

Louis XIV visiting the Manufactory of the Gobelins 417 

(From the painting by De Seve, after Lebrun, in the Museum of 
Versailles) 

The Theatre d'Eau, Versailles 422 

(From the painting by Cotelle in the Museum of Versailles) 

Trianon in the time of Louis XIV 427 

(From the painting by Martin in the Museum of Versailles) 

Louis XIV in 1706 436 

(From the wax medallion by Benoist in the king's bedchamber, 
Versailles) 



Xll 



I 

THE PALACE 



VERSAILLES AND THE COURT 
UNDER LOUIS XIV 



THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CHATEAU 

TO portray the court of Louis XIV it is necessary to 
describe the Versailles of the seventeenth century, 
for though the Chateau of Versailles still stands, 
that which made it once the wonder of Europe is 
as dead as Nineveh. 

On the 1 8th of April, 1651, the young Louis, accompanied 
by his governor, the Marechal de Villeroi, and a numerous 
suite, paid his first visit to Versailles. He was then thirteen 
years of age, and had been king for eight years. He came to 
hunt in the woods, and dismounted after the chase to sup at 
the chateau ^ of his father, a building of moderate size, con- 
structed on three sides of a court, with a pavilion at each 
corner, and surrounded by moats with stone balustrades. 
The site of that chateau and of its moats is now covered by 
the great central projection of Louis's palace. During the 
next ten years the king's liking for the place increased stead- 
^ The chateau built by Lemercier for Louis XIII, from 1624 to 1626. 

3 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

ily, but though he came very frequently to Versailles to hunt, 
he did little in the way of building or embellishment until 
1662. From 1662 to 1669 he adorned the park and gave 
magnificent fetes there. In 1669 he decided to enlarge the 
chateau, but he was not to carry out his purpose without en- 
countering opposition. Colbert was then superintendent of 
buildings as well as of finance, and Colbert's hobby was the 
Louvre. He set himself resolutely against the king's project, 
and did not hesitate to speak his mind. " Your Majesty 
knows," he wrote to the king, " that apart from brilliant ac- 
tions in war nothing marks better the grandeur and genius 
of princes than their buildings, and that posterity measures 
them by the standard of the superb edifices which they erect 
during their lives. Oh, what a pity that the greatest king, 
and the most virtuous, should be measured by the standard 
of Versailles ! And there is always this misfortune to fear." ^ 
But the king turned a deaf ear to the remonstrances of his 
minister. He had no intention of fixing himself in Paris. 
He had dreamed a dream, and meant to realize it at Ver- 
sailles. Therefore he cut the matter short by a curt com- 
mand, and Colbert was compelled to find the money. 

Levau, first architect of the king, had been previously the 
architect of Fouquet, for whom he built the fine Chateau of 
Vaux, where Fouquet had spread himself in the sunshine and 
had given the king a fete which cost him dear.^ To Levau 
the first works were intrusted, and he performed his task with 
a success worthy of his talent. As his orders commanded 
him to preserve the chateau of Louis XHI intact, he solved 
the difficulty by filling up the moats, and surrounding the 
chateau on three sides with new and splendid buildings: on 
the north, the state apartments of the king ; on the west, two 
royal pavilions, each containing three salons, and joined to 

^ Lettres, Instructions et Me- ^ The famous fete at Vaux took 
moires de Colbert, V, p. 266. place on August 17, 1661. 



The Construction of the Chateau 



each other by a grand terrace, paved with red-and-white 
marble; on the south, the state apartments of the queen. On 
the north and south two large courtyards, ornamented with 
fountains, separated these new buildings from the old chateau, 
whose western fagade, though joined to the terrace and modi- 
fied by it, was not destroyed. The architect, also, enlarged 
the old chateau on the east by uniting it to the two buildings 
On either side of the royal court, which dated from the time 
of Louis XIII, and in which that king had kept his horses and 
lodged his servants. Levau's work was well done, and he 
would doubtless have built the greater Versailles, that was to 
come, had he not died in 1670. He was succeeded by Man- 
sart, who had made a success of his first work at Versailles, 
the Chateau of Clagny, built by the king's order for Madame 
de Montespan. Louis now made use of him to realize his 
dream, and for the next twelve years pushed on the works 
with might and main. 

In the buildings of Levau an army of painters, sculptors, 
marble-cutters, and artists in bronze and copper were already 
engaged in decorating the state apartments, when the king 
conferred the office of first architect upon Mansart, with an 
order to build lodgings for the princes of the House of Bour- 
bon. Mansart, therefore, erected the great south wing, be- 
tween the Orangery and the Rue de la Surintendance (1679- 
1681), and joined it to the palace. In the same year, also, he 
began the grand gallery (1679-84), called now the Galerie 
des Glaces, which was raised on the terrace of Levau, be- 
tween the two pavilions, completing the western fagade of 
the central portion of the chateau. The great stables and the 
little stables (1679-82), on the Place d'Armes, called then 
the Place Royale, were commenced likewise, and in addition 
the Hotel de la Surintendance, the Hotel de la Chancellerie, 
the Trianon, and the Grand Commun were rising. There 
was, in fact, a furor of building at Versailles, for Louis was 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

in haste to inhabit his palace. Colbert, who had resigned 
himself to the inevitable, brought to the direction of all these 
new constructions the same zeal and energy that he displayed 
in the other branches of his administration. Each week he 
sent a note to the king, giving the progress made, and each 
week Louis visited the works that he might see with his own 
eyes how things were going, and caught a fever from the up- 
turned earth for his pains.^ "The king," wrote Madame de 
Sevigne, on the 12th of October, 1678, " wishes to go on Sat- 
urday to Versailles, but it seems that God does not wish it, by 
the impossibility of putting the buildings in a state to receive 
him, and by the great mortality among the workmen." Evi- 
dently there were others besides Louis who caught the fever, 
and who were less tenderly cared for. At last, despite im- 
possibility and mortality, the king came on the 6th of May, 
1682, with all his court, but 36,000 men and 6000 horses ^ 
were still at work on his palace and park of Versailles.^ 

^Leroi, Journal de la sante du tion of the chief buildings of the 

Roi (Dussieux, Le Chateau de palace of Versailles and its depen- 

Versailles, I, p. 98). ^ dencies are as follows: the chateau 

^Dangeau (August 27, 1684): of Louis XIII (1624-26), the Me- 

" Durant cette derniere semaine on nagerie (1663-65), the state apart- 

depensa pour Versailles 250,000 ments (1669-76), the Surintendance 

livres; il y avoit tous les jours (1670), the first Trianon (1670), 

22,000 hommes et 6000 chevaux qui the Chancellerie (1673), the Cha- 

travailloient." Dangeau (May 31, teau of Clagny (1676-83), the 

1685): "Par le calcul que Ton fait south wing (1679-81), the grand 

de tous les gens qui travaillent gallery (1679-S4), the stables 

presentement ici ou aux environs (1679-82), the Grand Commun 

pour Versailles, on trouve qu'il y (1682-85), the Orangery (1684-87), 

en avoit plus de 36,000 travaillant the north wing (1684-88), the 

actuellement." chapel (1699-1710). 

^ The list and the dates of erec- 



•rff ^ 




II 

THE COURTYARDS 

THE palace presents a more imposing appearance 
when approached from the Avenue de Paris than 
when viewed directly from the Place d'Armes. 
The beautiful blue-and-gold railing of the court- 
yard, the work of Delobel and Luchet, bears the emblem of 
the Sun King, and was erected in 1680. At either end huge 
stone sentry-boxes support sculptured groups, representing 
Louis's victories over Austria and Spain, and above the main 
gate are the gilded arms of France, surmounted by a crown 
and flanked by the traditional horns of plenty. Through this 
gate no carriages passed save those of the king and of the 
princes of the blood. The nobility entered to the right, or to 
the left, by the gates which are now kept closed. Beyond 
rise the buildings of the palace, and before them, high up on 
his horse of bronze, sits the great king, pointing ever toward 
the town, which was built at his bidding. Where the pedestal 
of his statue * stands there was, in his day, the main gate of a 
second railing,^ blue and gold like the first, which separated 
the court of the ministers, or court of honor, from the royal 
court; and since only the carriages of persons having the 
" honors of the Louvre " were permitted to drive into the 
royal court, people who did not enjoy that privilege were 
forced to alight in the court of the ministers. There they 

^ The equestrian statue of Louis ' This railing was destroyed on 
XIV, erected by Louis Philippe in the 6th of October, 1789. 
1835. 



y 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

could hire sedan-chairs to take them to the vestibules of the 
chateau, if they did not wish to walk. These chairs, called 
blue chairs, were carried by porters in blue liveries, who 
charged six sous for the service, and were owned and con- 
trolled by a company that had purchased the right.^ 

On the north and south sides of this first court stand the 
low red buildings in which the ministers and secretaries of 
state had their offices, a fact which gave the court its name, 
the court of the ministers. How many people of all ranks 
and conditions have gone up and down the stone steps of 
those buildings, hoping and fearing, to curry favor with the 
powerful custodians of the king's authority, who, according 
to Saint-Simon, were " accustomed to have almost everything 
their own way, to rule over everybody and browbeat every- 
body at will, fixing all punishments, all recompenses, and al- 
ways sheltering themselves behind the royal authority, ' The 
king wills it so ' being the phrase ever on their lips." ^ From 
those buildings, also, these lords of the portfolio set out in 
their coaches or their sedan-chairs on Sundays, Wednesdays, 
and Saturdays to attend the Council of State in the palace. 
The stone balustrades in front of the wings of the ministers 
were there in the days of Louis XIV, but the statues which 
adorn them are of a much later period.^ 

On turning toward the palace three objects strike the eye 
most prominently: to the right, the chapel, with its lofty 
roof, its statues, and its rich ornamentation ; and in the fore- 
ground the Grecian fronts of the two pavilions at either side 
of the royal court. These pavilions differ from those erected 
under Louis XIV, for the buildings of Levau and Mansart 
were much changed on the side of the courtyards in the reign 
of Louis XV. The architect Gabriel, who was one of the 

^ Dussieux, I, p. 97. ^ The statues were brought from 

^ Saint-Simon, Memoirs of the the Pont de la Concorde in 1837. 
Court of Louis XIV, II, p. 198. 



The Courtyards 



promoters of the restoration of the Greco-Roman art, de- 
stroyed the wing between the chapel and the royal court, which 
dated from Louis XIII, and raised the pavilion with the 
Grecian fagade which we see to-day. The wing on the south 
side of the royal court, once the stables of Louis XIII, escaped 
destruction at that time, but was modified in 1820 by the 
erection at its extremity of a Grecian pavilion, corresponding 
to that of Gabriel on the north. Beyond this southern pa- 
vilion is the court of the princes, from which the handsome 
staircase of the princes leads to the apartments of the great 
south wing of the palace, where the princes of the blood were 
lodged. Finally there is the marble court in the center of 
the chateau; but before describing it, let us consider for a 
moment a subject which belongs properly to the larger court- 
yards, the royal court and the court of the ministers — namely, 
the king's body-guards and military household. 

The king's person was protected by four companies of the 
body-guards, by twenty-five guards of the halberd, by the 
Cent-Suisses, by fifty guards of the gate, by the company of 
provost-guards, and by the hundred gentlemen of the battle- 
ax. Although at the first glance the number seems excessive^ 
it must be borne in mind that they served in detachments by 
the quarter, and that Versailles is very large. There was 
also the military household, which was composed of cavalry 
and infantry. The cavalry consisted of four splendid com- 
panies of the body-guards, called the blue companies from the 
color of their uniforms, and also four companies of gen- 
darmes and light horse, called the red companies ; then came 
the gray musketeers and the black musketeers and the 
mounted grenadiers.^ The infantry was made up of two 
regiments of French guards and Swiss guards. The king gave 

^ All these troops were uniformed musketeers took their names from 
in blue, white, or red, the colors of the color of their horses, and not 
the Bourbons. Both companies of from their uniforms. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

much time and thought to the organization of his military 
household and was rigorous in matters of discipline. He re- 
viewed his guards frequently at Versailles or Marly, and, 
with his well-known love of detail, inspected them man by 
man, and Dangeau tells us that in such inspections His 
Majesty was more severe than a commissary. In this work 
Louis was well seconded by Brissac, major of the body- 
guards. " The king made use of him," says Saint-Simon, 
" to put the guards upon that grand military footing they 
have reached." ^ On a grand military footing they certainly 
were, and the blue cavalry companies of the Maison Militaire 
were especially superb. But it was not only on days of re- 
view that the courtyards of Versailles were filled with the 
military household; the troops were there continually. 
" Four companies of the French guards and two of the Swiss 
guards parade every day in the court of the ministers between 
the two railings, and when the king issues in his carriage to 
go to Paris or to Fontainebleau the spectacle is magnificent. 
Four trumpeters in front and four behind, the Swiss guards 
on one side and the French guards on the other, form a line 
as far as it can reach. The Cent-Suisses march ahead of the 
horsemen in the costume of the sixteenth century, wearing 
the halberd, ruff, plumed hat, and the ample party-colored 
striped doublet; alongside of these are the provost-guards 
with scarlet facings and gold frogs, and companies of yeo- 
manry, bristling with gold and silver. The officers of the 
various corps, the trumpeters and the musicians, covered with 
gold and silver lace, are dazzling to look at ; the kettledrum 
suspended at the saddle-bow, overcharged with painted and 
gilded ornaments, is a curiosity for a glass case; the negro 
cymbal-player of the French guards resembles the sultan of a 
fairy-tale. Behind the carriage and alongside of it trot the 
body-guards, with sword and carbine, wearing red breeches, 
* Saint-Simon, II, p. 13. 
10 



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The Courtyards 



high black boots, and blue coats laced with silver ; all of them 
unquestionable gentlemen." ^ The courtyards, however, were 
rendered brilliant not only by military pomp but by fetes as 
well, and in this connection we are brought to the marble 
court. 

Here in the center of the chateau, where the windows of the 
Sun King's chamber face the rising sun, is that small court- 
yard, surrounded on three sides by the brick walls of Louis 
XIII's palace, which time has turned to a soft yellow, and 
which the Grand Monarch preserved carefully in the midst 
of his magnificence. There are marble busts on stone brack- 
ets between all the windows, and a wealth of ornamentation, 
sculptures and balustrades, about the roofs; but the chief 
interest and significance of this courtyard lies in the fact that 
behind its walls Louis lived and worked. The marble court 
is the center of Versailles ; it was once the center of France, 
and the Grand Monarch sought to make it, and nearly suc- 
ceeded in making it, the center of Europe. The western 
faqade differs somewhat from the other two, for Louis was 
obliged to rebuild it in 1672, owing to the defective state of 
the wall. The windows of his bedchamber open on a large 
blue-and-gold balcony, the work of Delobel, which is held up 
by eight marble columns, and above the windows of the upper 
story rests a sculptured pediment, the great clock of the palace, 
supported by statues of Hercules and Mars. In 1673 the 
court contained a basin decorated with a group in gilded 
bronze which represented two Cupids embracing a Triton 
that held a horn from which a jet of water rose; but in 1684 
Louis, who was changing his constructions continually, de- 
stroyed the fountain and paved the court with black-and-white 
marble as one sees it now. This pavement is several inches 
higher than the stone pavement of the royal court, but no 
horses or carriages entered here. The king took his car- 
* Taine, The Ancient Regime, p. 92. 
II 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

riage in the royal court. The marble court was used more 
than once as an open-air theater, and a print by Lepautre 
exists, representing a performance of Moliere's " Alceste " 
as given here before the king and the courtiers. On that oc- 
casion no scenery was used; the balconies and roofs of the 
chateau were brilliantly illuminated, and on either side of the 
court they placed a row of orange-trees in silver tubs, but 
nothing further seems to have been done to deck a stage al- 
ready highly adorned. 

The final touch of brilliancy was given to the courtyards by 
the nobility as they came and went. " The king," says Saint- 
Simon, " liked splendor, magnificence, and profusion in every- 
thing : you pleased him if you shone through the brilliancy of 
your houses, your clothes, your table, your equipages." * Such 
being the case, there were many who pleased, and the court- 
yards of Versailles were filled with glittering liveries, with 
splendid horses, with gilded carriages — in short, with a 
blaze of color and pomp that changed continually and whirled 
to and from Paris and St. Cloud. 

^Saint-Simon, II, p. 369. 



12 



Ill 

THE AMBASSADORS' STAIRCASE 

BEGUN in 1671 and finished in 1680, this staircase 
was sometimes called the grand staircase, but more 
frequently the ambassadors' staircase because it 
was specially intended for the ambassadors of 
foreign courts when they came in state to receive their audi- 
ences from the king. The three arches to the right of the 
royal court led to the vestibule; they contain now very sim- 
ple doors of wood and glass, but in Louis's day they held 
splendid gates of gilded iron, forged by Delobel.^ The vesti- 
bule was paved with the finest marbles, and the vaulting en- 
riched with trophies in gilded bronze. The ambassador who 
entered passed under one of three other arches and found 
himself in a gorgeous hall that rose to the roof of the palace. 
There before him, gleaming with colored marbles, mounting 
majestically to right and to left, was the chef-d'oeuvre of Dor- 
bay and of Levau, the staircase of the Grand Monarch. 
Twelve marble steps in the center led to the first landing, 
where in a niche there was a fountain, ornamented with a 
group in gilded bronze. Above the fountain, in a second 
niche, was a bust of Louis in white marble, placed in the midst 
of trophies, and at either side of it, between marble columns, 
people of different nations, silent, imm.ovable, lifelike, glitter- 
ing in varied costumes, looked out over railings covered with 
cloth of gold, as one might look from an opera-box. In such 
^ Dnssieux, Le Chateau de Versailles, I, p. 299. 

13 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

fashion the fact was brought home to an ambassador that the 
eyes of the world were on him when he went up to face the 
King of France. The two stairs, to the right and the left, of 
twenty-one steps each, were of marble with marble balus- 
trades, and from the upper landings very beautiful doors, 
carved and gilded, the work of Caffieri, led to the state apart- 
ments. As for the rest, there were four superb tapestries on 
the walls, copies of Van der Meulen's paintings of the taking 
of Valenciennes, of Cambrai, of St. Omer, and of the battle 
of Cassel; and Lebrun's ceiling, a gorgeous composition in 
which the Arts, the Sciences, the Muses, and the Virtues 
stood at the doors of the king's house to welcome him. But 
all this magnificence has disappeared. Louis XV, who 
had no appreciation of art or grandeur, very foolishly de- 
stroyed the ambassadors' staircase, in 1752, to enlarge his 
private apartments and those of his daughters. Gerome, in 
his painting, " The Reception of the Great Conde by Louis 
XIV," has reproduced the grand staircase and filled it with 
the court, and that canvas brings vividly before one the van- 
ished splendor of Versailles. 

The staircase served not only for ambassadors on days of 
ceremony, but concerts were frequently given there, and at 
times certain religious services were held there. Dangeau 
tells us that on the 22d of June, 1684, there was a concert on 
the staircase, and the Mercure adds : " When it is full of light 
the grand staircase of the king vies in magnificence with the 
richest apartments of the most beautiful palace in the world." ^ 
Again, under date of April 12, 1699, we find the following: 
" The king came down below at chapel, at twelve o'clock, and 
as the weather was bad he did not go to the station to which 
he had gone the year before in crossing the court. They had 
placed the cross on the landing of the grand staircase. The 

^Dussieux, I, p. 301. 
14 



The Ambassadors' Staircase 



king, Monseigneur, Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne, Mme. la 
Duchesse de Bourgogne, Mgr, le Due d'Anjou, Mgr. le Due 
de Berry, went to adore the cross. The grand staircase was 
full of courtiers on both sides. The spectacle was very beau- 
tiful." 1 , 

^Dangeau, April, 1699. 



15 



IV 

THE STATE APARTMENTS OF THE KING 

AT the present time the state apartments begin with 
/\ the salon of Hercules, but in Louis XIV's day that 
/ % salon did not exist, and its site was occupied by the 
J. \. chapel of the chateau. The small salon of Abun- 
dance, which opens out of the salon of Hercules, was once the 
vestibule of that chapel, and therefore these two salons may 
be omitted from the description of the state apartments, 
which began originally with the salon of Venus, and were 
composed of the following rooms: the salons of Venus, of 
Diana, of Mars, of Mercury, of Apollo, of War, the grand 
gallery, the salon of Peace.^ The first six form the north 
side of the central projection of the palace, and their lofty 
windows look out on the parterre du Nord ; but as the salon 
of War, which opens into the grand gallery, belongs properly 
to the chapter devoted to that subject, let us consider now 
only the first five, named after the gods and goddesses of the 
old world, who figure here as satellites of the god of Ver- 
sailles, Louis the Sun King. 

If Louis could revisit Versailles to-day, and beginning his 
tour of inspection in the salon of Hercules, turn in on the 
right, where a small sign, by no means artistic, announces the 
entrance to Les Grands Appartements de Louis XIV, he 
would undoubtedly be surprised and shocked, and look vainly 
for his vanished magnificence. So much has been changed 
^Dussieux, I, p. 142. 
16 



The State Apartments of the King 



and cheapened, and yet in view of the way in which the Revo- 
lution ransacked the palace it is surprising that so much re- 
mains. But it was precisely that vanished magnificence 
which made the court what it was, and some notion of it is 
essential in any attempt to portray the court. 

THE SALON OF VENUS 

The salon of Venus opened originally upon the ambassadors' 
staircase, and was therefore the first room of the state apart- 
ments. It is paneled throughout with marble, arranged in 
mosaic form, and so perfectly fitted that the joints have not 
changed after two centuries.^ On the ceiling Houasse has 
painted in charming color Venus crowned by the Graces, and 
this central composition is surrounded by four other pictures, 
in which Augustus, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander, and Cyrus 
figure. Augustus is presiding over the games of the circus, 
Nebuchadnezzar is raising the gardens of Babylon, Cyrus is 
reviewing his army, etc. ; but the courtiers understood per- 
fectly that these were but symbols of their Sun King, who had 
held his tournament in the Carrousel, who had constructed 
his gardens of Versailles, who had ridden rough-shod through 
Flanders, and on whatever gorgeous ceiling of this palace 
they saw Augustus, Alexander, Caesar, or Cyrus, they read 
Louis. There in a niche Louis stands in white marble, clad 
as a Roman emperor, and that statue, which is the work of 
Varin, occupied the same position in Louis's day. The salon 
was lighted by two large chandeliers of silver and cut glass 
and by eight tall branched candlesticks of crystal which 
stood on gilded pedestals, while the furniture and curtains 
were of green velvet bordered with gold. All that has dis- 
apj)eared. On the evenings when an appartement was held, 
that is, a gathering of all the court, this salon was used for the 
^ Dussieux, I, p. 146. 

17 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

collation. Tables were spread here, covered with silver 
candlesticks and pyramids of flowers, and loaded with fruits 
and dainties of every sort. People came and helped them- 
selves as they pleased ; to use the expression current at court, 
they "pillaged." 



THE SALON OF DIANA 

This room, like the one preceding, is paneled with marble, 
and ornamented with bas-reliefs in copper, carved and gilded. 
On the ceiling Blanchard has painted Diana and her Nymphs, 
and again we see Cyrus and Alexander, the one pursuing a 
stag, and the other a lion. In the center of the wall opposite 
the windows there is a bust of Louis by Bernin, on a pedestal 
decked with bas-reliefs in bronze. Above the fireplace, where 
the portrait of Marie Therese now hangs, there was once a 
painting of Iphigenia and Diana, while on the other wall, 
where is seen now the portrait of Louis XIV by Rigaud, a 
copy of the original in the Louvre, hung a picture represent- 
ing Diana and Endymion. Under the portrait of the king, 
stands one of the rare pieces of furniture of the time of Louis 
XIV which remain at Versailles, a beautiful table of carved 
wood, gilded, with a marble top, a product of the Gobelins. 
This salon of Diana was the billiard-room, and its furniture 
and curtains were formerly of crimson velvet bordered with 
gold. It was lighted by four large chandeliers of silver and 
glass, while four smaller chandeliers on gilded pedestals were 
placed at the corners of the billiard-table. Beyond that table 
two rows of raised seats, covered with Persian tapestry, and 
brilliantly lighted by silver candlesticks of many branches 
placed at the sides, allowed the court ladies to watch the play- 
ers with ease, and to display themselves to great advantage 
at the same time. Here were seen, too, the orange-trees of 
which the king was so fond. There were four of them, each 

i8 



The State Apartments of the King 



in a beautifully carved tub of silver. Such was Diana's salon 
in its prime. 

THE SALON OF MARS 

The salon of Mars was the ball-room and concert-hall, and 
originally had marble tribunes for the musicians on either 
side of the chimney. On the ceiling the god of battles rides 
in his triumphal car, Csesar reviews his soldiers, Cyrus and 
Marcus Aurelius advance, Constantine marches to war. 
These paintings are the work of Audran, Houasse, and Jouve- 
net. In this salon green was the prevailing color, the furni- 
ture and curtains being of green velvet bordered with gold, 
and silver was lavishly used. Between the windows stood 
tables of silver, beautifully carved, holding splendid silver 
baskets full of flowers, silver candlesticks, and silver punch- 
bowls highly wrought. There were three large mirrors 
above the tables, set in carved silver frames, and from the 
brilliant ceiling hung two huge chandeliers of silver and cut 
glass. There were also a number of small card-tables, cov- 
ered with green velvet fringed with gold, and in the center a 
larger table which held a trou-madame of inlaid work. Trou- 
madame, for a time a popular game at court, was played by 
rolling little ivory balls through arcades into holes marked 
with certain numbers.^ Thus with its wealth of color and 
light the salon of Mars must have presented a striking picture 
when the card-tables were crowded with courtiers, or when, 
after the tables had vanished, the music sounded from the 
marble tribunes for the dance. 

• THE SALON OF MERCURY 

The salon of Mercury has preserved its original decoration, 
which is all of marble ; the fireplace alone has been destroyed. 

^ An account of the various games of cards played at court will be given 
later, when the subject of gambling is considered. 

19 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

Champagne's ceiling represents Mercury in a chariot drawn 
by two cocks, and in the smaller paintings Augustus and 
Alexander are seen again. This was the state bedchamber, 
and Louis slept here in the early days of his residence at 
Versailles, probably from 1676 to 1685, after which time it 
remained a chamber of parade. When the Due d'Anjou was 
proclaimed King of Spain in 1700, Louis installed his grand- 
son in this bedchamber that people might come to pay their 
court to him as King Philippe V before he set out for Spain. 
The furniture and hangings were of crimson velvet fringed 
with gold, and the bed, which stood on an estrade facing the 
windows, was surmounted by a canopy of cloth of gold, 
adorned with red and white plumes. Before the bed was a 
balustrade of silver,^ which held at intervals eight tall 
branched candlesticks of the same metal. There were silver 
tables between the windows, mirrors framed in silver, beauti- 
ful inlaid cabinets with statuettes in silver and bronze, a 
splendid chandelier of silver and glass of six branches hold- 
ing eighteen candles, and flowers everywhere. Here, too, 
were the card-tables of the king and queen, but at an apparte- 
ment they frequently went to play in the salon of Mars. 

THE SALON OF APOLLO 

The salon of Apollo was the throne-room, and here the am- 
bassador who had ascended the grand staircase and passed 
through the glittering halls of Venus, of Diana, of Mars, and 
of Mercury, found himself in the presence of the King of 
France, and if he was not sufficiently impressed by all that 
he had seen from the time he left his carriage, Louis's glance 
and bearing would make up the deficiency. The colors here 
were crimson and gold. An estrade faced the windows, cov- 

'The balustrade of silver was the work of Loir and Villiers. It cost 142,- 
196 livres (Comptes des Batiments de 1680). Dussieux, I, p. 152. 

20 




Charles Lebrun 



The State Apartments of the King 



ered with a rich Persian carpet on which stood the silver 
throne, eight feet high, of beautiful workmanship, and sur- 
mounted by a splendid canopy. The three gilded rings 
which held the canopy may still be seen in the ceiling; they 
have outlived the throne. On the ceiling, in an admirable 
composition by Delafosse, Apollo appears, surrounded by the 
Seasons and the Months, while in the smaller paintings are 
the ever-present Alexander and Augustus. On the walls 
were pictures by Rubens, by Titian, by Guido, and by Van 
Dyck, six of which are now at the Louvre.^ Here, as else- 
where, there were costly tables and mirrors, chandeliers 
of silver, the most perfect that French art could produce, 
orange-trees in silver tubs, and flowers everywhere. 

Such were the first five of the king's state apartments, which 
open one into another in the order given. At one time they 
were all paved with marble, but when the floors were washed 
it was found impossible to prevent water from passing 
through the cracks and injuring the ceilings of the rooms be- 
low, and Louis, therefore, substituted floors of polished wood. 
These five salons, beautiful as they were, were surpassed by 
the three which followed, for Mansart and Lebrun had re- 
served the final splendors for the grand gallery and the salons 
of War and of Peace. 

^Dussieux, I, p. 153. 



21 



V 

THE GRAND GALLERY AND ITS SALONS 

THE salon of War, the grand gallery, called fre- 
quently the Galerie des Glaces, and the salon of 
Peace occupy the entire fa9ade of the central por- 
tion of the chateau on the garden side, and form a 
setting of unrivaled splendor for ceremonies and fetes. " He 
had the air of a great king," said Montesquieu of Louis XIV, 
and these apartments are the solid, visible presentment of 
that majesty. Mars, Mercury, and Apollo have had their 
day; here there is no god but Louis, dominant and trium- 
phant. 

THE SALON OF WAR 

The ceiling of the salon of War, painted by Lebrun at the 
time of Louis's brilliant successes, represents France aloft on 
the clouds and surrounded by Victories bearing laurel 
wreaths ; in the curves of the arch are seen Germany, Holland, 
and Spain, vanquished by the men of valor who fought for 
the Sun King. There on the chimney, in a large bas-relief of 
white stucco, rides Louis himself, clad as a Roman, with his 
enemies under the heels of his horse, and attended by Victory, 
Valor, and Renown. This is the work of Coyzevox. The 
walls of the salon are entirely of marble, richly adorned with 
trophies in gilded copper. In Louis's day there were in the 
four corners of the room beautiful tables of blue and gold, 
holding massive vases of silver, and between the windows 

22 



The Grand Gallery and Its Salons 



silver candlesticks of many branches. A huge chandelier of 
silver and glass hung in the center of the apartment, while 
at the sides of the room stood then, as now, six busts of 
the Roman emperors, which had been given to Louis by 
Mazarin. But the salon of War serves only as a brilliant 
vestibule to the grand gallery. A lofty arch connects the 
salon with that glittering hall where the Sun King's splendor 
reached its zenith. 

THE GRAND GALLERY 

The grand gallery is the epitome of absolutism and divine 
right and the grandeur of the House of Bourbon. It rests 
upon the former terrace of Levau and extends from the salon 
of War to the salon of Peace, a distance of two hundred and 
forty feet. Its seventeen lofty windows look out upon the 
gardens, and are reflected in the seventeen arches filled with 
mirrors which line the opposite wall. The trophies in gilded 
copper, and the decorations of the Corinthian pilasters be- 
tween every mirror and every window, are the work of Coyze- 
vox, Tuby, and Caffieri. Here, as elsewhere, the walls are 
of marble, and the cornice, carved in great part by Coyzevox, 
is adorned with the crown of France and the collars of Saint- 
Esprit and Saint-Michel. The ceiling, which gave Lebrun 
four years' labor (1679-82), is his chief work at Versailles, 
and the artist sought with all his skill and all the wealth of 
color at his command to place above the head of the Louis 
who walked daily through this gallery, sometimes gay and 
sometimes sad, sometimes suffering and sometimes buoyant, 
the glory and omnipotence of that ideal Louis, the Sun King, 
whom all the Arts united to celebrate. The man on the floor 
and the god on the ceiling were two very different persons, 
but it is to the credit of the actual Louis that, whether his 
ideal was true or false, he had an ideal and endeavored to live 

23 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

up to it. On the ceiling he is young and victorious and 
crowned with laurel, crossing the Rhine, conquering Holland, 
capturing Ghent, seizing Franche-Comte, governing by him- 
self, and, with all France applauding him and all Europe fear- 
ing him, making a noise in the world. There are thirty of 
these paintings, eight of large size and twenty-two smaller 
ones, surrounded by rich borders of gilded sculptures, and 
intended to convey to posterity the story of the Sun King 
from 1 67 1 to 1678, as composed by Louis and Lebrun. Here 
in this grand gallery Louis attained his apotheosis, but he 
owed it to Mansart, Lebrun, Coyzevox, Tuby, and Caffieri, 
who put their hearts into their work. To-day, stripped of 
all its furniture with the exception of a few white benches 
covered with red cloth, the grand gallery is still imposing and 
magnificent, but at one period the furniture was as splendid 
as the decoration, and for the most part was of massive carved 
silver or of silver-gilt. In two long lines on either side, be- 
tween the windows and the mirrors, were placed tables of sil- 
ver, candelabra of silver, vases of silver and gold, benches of 
silver covered with green velvet fringed with gold, orange- 
trees in bloom in beautifully carved tubs of silver — in short, 
a mass of riches. The floor was covered with two gorgeous 
carpets of the Savonherie, and the windows were hung with 
curtains of white damask embroidered in gold with the royal 
arms.^ Sixteen huge chandeliers of silver, with decorations 
representing the labors of Hercules,^ the Seasons and the 
Months, and twelve large lusters of crystal and silver fur- 
nished the illumination, and at an appartement the gallery 
was lighted by four thousand wax candles. On such a night, 
when this great hall was crowded with the court, the coup 
d'oeil must have been royal. 

^ These curtains cost 1050 livres ^ Twelve chandeliers, represent- 
each. Comptes , des Batiments, ing the labors of Hercules, cost 
1684. 31,153 livres. Dussieux, I, p. 161. 

24 



The Grand Gallery and Its Salons 



But the day came when Louis found Europe in arms 
against him. He was no longer young, nor victorious, nor 
crowned with laurel, and to keep his four hundred and fifty 
thousand men in arms and his navy in condition to combat 
Holland and England, he was forced to ask his nobles to loan 
him their silver and gold, their tables, their mirrors, their 
riches of every sort. To set the example himself, he sent, 
in 1690, nearly two thousand pieces of his silver furniture tO' 
the mint ; ^ and when he did this thing, above his head, clad 
as a Roman and crowned with laurel, was that ideal Sun 
King, whom all the Arts united to celebrate, and who was. 
never troubled by financial difficulties. 

THE SALON OF PEACE 

The salon of Peace, constructed at the same time as the salon 
of War and the grand gallery, has preserved its original dec- 
oration. Its walls are lined with marble, ornamented with 
trophies in gilded copper and with mirrors. On the ceiling, 
which is the work of Lebrun, France rides in a chariot, at- 
tended by Peace and Abundance. Lemoine's painting on the 
chimney, which represents Louis XV giving peace to Europe, 
was not placed there until 1729; what the previous adorn- 
ment of the chimney was is difficult to discover, but without 
question it was brilliant and appropriate. Here also on. 
pedestals of colored marble are six busts of the Caesars,, 
which, like those in the salon of War, Louis XIV had re- 
ceived from Mazarin. In this salon the silver throne was 
placed in 1685, when Louis gave audience to the Doge of 
Genoa. The state apartments of the king end with the salon 
of Peace, from which a door to the right of the chimney leads 
to the state apartments of the queen. 

^ The silver furniture was re- with marble mosaics and borders, 
placed by furniture of carved and of carved copper. Dussieux, I, p. 
gilded wood, and tables adorned 164. 

25 



VI 

THE STATE APARTMENTS OF THE QUEEN 

THESE apartments have been occupied successively 
by six women : Queen Marie Therese, the wife of 
Louis XIV; the Dauphine of Bavaria, the wife of 
Monseigneur; the Duchesse de Bourgogne; the In- 
fanta of Spain, the fiancee of Louis XV from 1722 to 1725, 
when the projected marriage was broken off; Queen Marie 
Leczinska; and finally Queen Marie Antoinette. Queen 
Marie Therese was an insignificant figure in the brilliant 
court of her husband, being completely eclipsed by the Mar- 
quise de Montespan, nor did she long enjoy her new apart- 
ments at Versailles. They were ready for her in 1676, and 
she died in 1683. 

THE QUEEN'S BEDCHAMBER 

In this room two queens and two dauphines have died, and 
nineteen children of France have been born. The original 
decoration has entirely disappeared; modified by Louis XV 
for Marie Leczinska, it was completely changed in 1770 for 
Marie Antoinette, and in turn the decorations made for 
Marie Antoinette were destroyed by the architects of Louis 
Philippe to make space for the large paintings with which 
the walls are now covered. The ceiling with its gilded sculp- 
tures dates from the time of Marie Antoinette. The original 
ceiling was painted by Gilbert de Seve. In Louis XIV's 
day there stood before the queen's bed a splendid balustrade 

2^ 



The State Apartments of the Queen 

of silver, like that in the salon of Mercury, but when the 
king sent his silver furniture to the mint this balustrade was 
replaced by one of carved and gilded wood. The apartment 
of Marie Therese was paneled with marble, and in winter 
hung with rich tapestries. The bed stood oii an estrade, 
facing the windows, under a lofty plumed canopy, and the 
furniture was blue and gold. The Duchesse de Bourgogne, 
when she lived here as dauphine, added several beautiful 
cabinets which contained her jewels and a part of the crown 
diamonds. The large pier-glass in its gilded frame between 
the windows dates from the time of Marie Antoinette, and 
the tragedy of her life has made her souvenirs supreme in 
this spot, to the exclusion of all else. It is as difficult to disso- 
ciate this apartment from Marie Antoinette, and associate 
it with Marie Therese, as it is to discover what its decora- 
tions and furnishings were in the time of that simple and 
insignificant woman. But as those decorations and furnish- 
ings were ordered, not by her simple self, but by her mag- 
nificent husband, it may be safely asserted that the bed- 
chamber of Marie Therese was worthy of a Queen of France. 

THE GRAND CABINET OF THE QUEEN 

The queen's state apartments occupy the south side of the 
central projection of the chateau, facing the parterre du Midi, 
and enjoy a wealth of sunshine which the state apartments of 
the king, on the north side, lack. Yet there was not much 
sunshine in the life of Marie Therese. In her grand cabinet, 
which opens out of her bedchamber, she held her receptions, 
and people were presented to her. With the exception of the 
ceiling, painted by Michel Corneille and representing Mer- 
cury surrounded by the Arts and Sciences, nearly all the 
original decorations of the apartment have been changed. 
When the queen gave audience, her chair was placed at the 

27 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

end of the room on an estrade under a canopy; but she died 
so soon after Louis had made this palace the seat of his 
government that she plays almost no part in the court of 
Versailles. 

In those piquant memoirs of the regent's mother there is 
this portrait of Marie Therese, somewhat exaggerated na 
doubt : " Our queen was excessively ignorant, but the kindest 
and most virtuous woman in the world. She believed every- 
thing the king told her, good or bad. Her teeth were very 
ugly, being black and broken. It is said that this proceeded 
from her being in the constant habit of taking chocolate; she 
also frequently ate garlic. She was short and fat, and her 
skin was very white. When she was not walking or dan- 
cing, she seemed much taller. She ate frequently and for a 
long time; but her food was always cut in pieces as small 
as if they were for a singing bird. She could not forget her 
country, and her manners were always remarkably Spanish. 
She was very fond of play; she played basset, reversis, ombre, 
and sometimes a little primero; but she never won because 
she did not know how to play. She had such an affection for 
the king that she used to watch his eyes to do whatever 
might be agreeable to him; if he only looked at her kindly 
she was in good spirits for the rest of the day. She was 
very glad when the king quitted his mistresses for her, and 
displayed so much satisfaction that it was commonly re- 
marked. She had no objection to being joked upon this sub- 
ject, and upon such occasions used to laugh and wink and 
rub her little hands. , . . The king, nevertheless, had always 
great consideration for her, and made his mistresses treat her 
with all becoming respect. He loved her for her virtue, and 
for the sincere affection she bore to him, notwithstanding his 
infidelity. He was much affected at her death. . . . The 
queen died of an abscess under her arm. Instead of making 
it burst, Fagon, who was unfortunately then her physician, 

28 




Marie Therese, Queen of France 



The State Apartments of the Queen 

had her blooded; this drove in the abscess, the disorder at- 
tacked her internally, and an emetic, which was administered 
after her bleeding, had the effect of killing the queen." ^ 

The body of Marie Therese lay in state in this salon, and 
in the Gazette we find the official ceremony in detail : " On 
the 31st of July the corpse of the queen was opened and 
embalmed, and they took from it the heart and the entrails. 
The heart was embalmed and inclosed in a silver case upon 
which was this inscription : This is the heart of Marie 
Therese, Infanta of Spain, wife of Louis le Grand, XIV of 
the name; she died on the ^oth of July, 1683. The entrails 
were also embalmed and placed in an urn. The body, after 
having been embalmed and clad in the dress of St. Francois 
by the queen's women, was laid in a leaden coffin, on which 
they placed this inscription : This is the body of the very high, 
very excellent, and very powerful princess, Marie Therese, 
Infanta of Spain, wife of Louis le Grand, XIV of the name; 
she died at the Chateau of Versailles on Friday, the 30th of 
July, 168^, at the age of forty-five years. They carried the 
coffin into the grand cabinet, which was hung from top to 
bottom with black velvet, adorned with the queen's coat of 
arms; and while the priests of the Mission established in 
the parish of Versailles, the Feuillants and Recollets, chanted 
the De profundis, they placed it on an estrade, raised two 
steps, under a dais of black velvet, fringed with silver, and 
ornamented with the arms of the queen. The coffin was 
covered with a royal mantle trimmed with ermine, upon 
which was placed a crown of gold, half hidden by crape. 
The silver case containing the heart was brought into the 
same cabinet and laid upon one of the two altars which had 
been prepared for the celebration of the mass. About the 
estrade and on the altars were a large number of silver chan- 
deliers filled with lighted wax tapers. The queen's bed- 

^ Memoirs of Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans, pp. 103-104. 

29 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

chamber, her antechamber, the hall of her guards, and the mar- 
ble staircase were also hung with black velvet, ornamented 
with her coat of arms. Four bishops, who came every day ta 
assist at the prayers, were placed at the right of the body ; and 
above them were the four almoners of the queen. The Mar- 
quise de Montespan, superintendent of the queen's household,, 
the Duchesse de Crequi, dame d'honneur, the Comtesse de Be- 
thune, dame d'atour, and the ladies of the palace were placed 
at the left; they were relieved every two hours by the duch- 
esses and by the other ladies who had been invited. TwO' 
heralds at arms in black robes, with their coats of arms and 
their wands of office, were at the foot of the estrade. They 
presented the holy-water brush to the princes, princesses,, 
dukes, duchesses, marshals of France, officers of the crown,, 
ladies of the palace, and the other ladies, who came to sprinkle 
the holy water on the coffin at the appointed hours. 

" On the ist of August, Monsieur, Madame, Mademoiselle, 
the Prince de Conde, the Due d'Enghien, the Prince de la. 
Roche-sur-Yon, and the Comte de Vermandois ^ came in 
the morning to sprinkle the holy water ; and after dinner the 
Grand Duchesse de Toscane, the Duchesse d'Enghien, the 
Princesse de Conti, and Mile, de Bourbon performed the 
same duty. 

" On the evening of the 2d of August the heart was car- 
ried to Val-de-Grace. The Cardinal de Bouillon, grand al- 
moner of France, raised it and placed it on a black velvet 
cushion. He held it thus upon his knees in the queen's car- 
riage, where were Mademoiselle, the Grand Duchesse de Tos- 
cane, the Duchesse d'Enghien, Mile, de Bourbon, and the 
Princesse de Carignan, all in black mantles. The Marquise de- 
Montespan, the Duchesse de Crequi, and the Comtesse de Be- 

^ " The presence at such a cere- la Valliere, seems scandalous." — 
mony of the Comte de Vermandois, Dussieux, I. p. 191. 
the son of the king and Mile, de 

30 



The State Apartments of the Queen 

thune accompanied the heart also in the same carriage. The 
carriage was surrounded by the pages and valets of the 
queen, and by the Cent-Suisses, marching with halberds 
lowered, and was followed by the king's guards, carrying 
tapers of white wax. A large number of other carriages, 
draped with black and drawn by six horses, the carriages of 
Monsieur, of Madame, of the princes and princesses of the 
blood, and of the lords and ladies of the court, preceded and 
followed the queen's carriage, each attended by valets on 
foot, bearing lighted tapers. They arrived in this order at 
Val-de-Grace. On the loth of August the body was con- 
ducted to St. Denis with all pomp." ^ 

Thus passed Queen Marie Therese at the moment when 
the grandeur of Versailles had just begun, at the moment, 
too, when the influence of the Marquise de Montespan was 
ending, and the queen's death left the coast clear for the 
woman who was to rule at Versailles after a fashion for 
thirty years, Madame de Maintenon. 

THE QUEEN'S ANTECHAMBER 

With the exception of the ceiling, the queen's antechamber 
has preserved the greater part of its original decoration. In 
this apartment, which is larger than either the bedchamber 
or the grand cabinet, the queen dined in public, au grand 
convert as it was called, sometimes alone, sometimes with 
the king. At her petit convert Her Majesty ate in her bed- 
chamber or in one of her cabinets. At the public dinner the 
ushers admitted all well-dressed people, who came by the 
marble staircase into the Hall of the Queen's Guards, and 
passed then into the corridor behind the antechamber into 
which two doors at either end of the antechamber opened. 
Those doors are now closed and covered with large paint- 
^Dussieux, I, pp. 190-191. 

31 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

ings; by one o£ them the crowd entered the antechamber, 
filed through it, and went out by the other. The ceremony 
of the pubHc dinner was fatiguing, for the gaze of the crowd 
tended to banish conversation and make etiquette more rigid. 
At the grand convert the king and queen dined in pomp and 
silence. 

In 1 710 the Duchesse de Bourgogne, who then inhabited 
the state apartments, had a theater set up in the antechamber 
that she might enjoy the pleasure of seeing comedies while 
Tier pregnancy prevented her from going out. Dangeau tells 
lis that the theater was very beautiful. 

THE HALL OF THE QUEEN'S GUARDS 

This splendid salon, the first of the state apartments of the 
queen, opening upon the landing of the marble staircase, has 
preserved all its decoration of the time of Louis XIV. The 
walls are lined throughout with black-and-white marble, and 
on the brilliant ceiling, which is the work of Coypel, Jupiter 
appears, attended by Justice and Pity. The four vases of 
red porphyry in the corners of the apartment were once in 
the Galerie des Glaces. The state apartments of the queen 
begin with this hall. They have been described here in 
reverse order, as is necessary when they are entered from the 
salon of Peace. Of her private apartments no traces remain ; 
they opened out of her bedchamber, but they have entirely 
disappeared in the various changes made for Marie Le- 
czinska and for Marie Antoinette. The Petits Appartements 
de la Reine, which one sees at Versailles to-day, are those of 
Marie Antoinette, and hold no souvenirs of the wife of Louis 
XIV. Owing to the death of Marie Therese, and the fact 
that her successor, Madame de Maintenon, was never publicly 
proclaimed, there was no queen in what is properly known 
as the court of Versailles. It is not necessary, therefore, to 

32 



The State Apartments of the Queen 

enumerate the various officials composing the queen's house- 
hold. At the time of Marie Therese they numbered five hun- 
dred and seventy-two, divided into departments similar to 
those in the larger service of the king, of which a full account 
will be given later. To finish, then, with the queen, there 
remains but a word concerning her staircase. 

THE QUEEN'S STAIRCASE 

The staircase of the queen, called also the marble staircase, 
was built in 1671, as was the ambassadors' staircase on the 
other side of the royal court, and in point of uniformity the 
interior of the palace has been greatly marred by the loss 
of the latter. Less imposing than that vanished grand stair- 
case of the king, the queen's staircase is still very handsome, 
all of marble, and ornamented with gilded sculptures. Even 
in the time of Louis XIV this staircase was more in use 
than the other, as it led not only to the state apartments of the 
queen, but to the private apartments of the king, and also to 
the apartments of Madame de Maintenon, all of which opened 
upon its landing and vestibule of marble. The arches that 
lead from the royal court to the entrance vestibule on the 
ground floor were closed formerly with handsome gates of 
gilded iron, the work of Delobel. 



33 



VII 

THE PRIVATE APARTMENTS OF THE KING 

THE expression private apartments, in connection 
with the rooms about to be described, is apt to be 
misleading. Louis XIV had Httle or no privacy 
as we understand the term, and though several of 
these salons were full of people at all hours, they are called 
the private apartments to distinguish them from the state 
apartments ; in them Louis lived and worked, surrounded and 
followed by a crowd of courtiers, who had the right of en- 
trance. 

THE HALL OF THE KING'S GUARDS 

This hall opens on the upper vestibule of the marble staircase, 
at the other end of which were the apartments of Madame 
de Maintenon. The landing of the staircase separates the 
vestibule from the Hall of the Queen's Guards, already men- 
tioned. With the exception of the gilded cornice decorated 
with sculptures representing subjects of war, and the marble 
chimneypiece, the original decorations of this room have 
entirely disappeared, and those placed here by Louis Philippe 
at the time of the creation of the palace museum are cheap 
and inartistic. But under the Grand Monarch this room, 
which formed the entrance to his private apartments, was 
lined with marble and splendidly adorned. The body-guards 
and Cent-Suisses were on duty here. 

34 



The Private Apartments of the King 

THE KING'S ANTECHAMBER 

Of the original decoration of this antechambe'-, the second 
room of the suite, nothing remains but the chimneypiece in 
the colored marble of Languedoc. Here the king dined au 
grand convert when he ate in public in his own apartments, 
which was seldom, but he supped here every evening in 
state with the members of the royal family. In addition to 
serving as a dining-room, the antechamber was used for 
other purposes, one of which is given in the Etat de la France 
de iyo8 as follows : " In the king's antechamber, on every 
Monday at noon, the valets prepare a table, which they cover 
with green velvet, and place before it an arm-chair for the 
king. M. de Chamillart, Secretary of State, stands at the left 
of this chair, and after the council, about half-past twelve, 
before the king goes to chapel to hear mass, if he has not 
already heard it, all people who have petitions to present 
come to place them respectfully on this table. These peti- 
tions are received by a clerk of M. de Chamillart, and the 
Secretary of State, who on this occasion represents the king, 
reads them carefully, and writes in the margin of each one 
the name of the minister or secretary to whom the petition 
should be sent." ^ 

THE GRAND ANTECHAMBER OF THE KING 

This beautiful apartment is best known by the name of 
the CEil-de-Boeuf, from the large oval window opposite the 
chimney; but as that name was not used until the reign of 
Louis XV, it is fitting to refer to the room here by the desig- 
nation applied to it in the time of Louis XIV — namely, the 
grand antechamber of the king. Prior to 1701 the grand 
antechamber was divided into two apartments, a salon and a 

* Dussieux, I, p. 248. 

35 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

bedchamber, the latter being the bedchamber of Louis XIII, 
which became for some years the bedchamber of his son; 
but in 1 70 1, when Louis XIV estabhshed his new bedchamber 
in the adjoining apartment, these two rooms were united and 
became the grand antechamber. From the grand antecham- 
ber two doors open into the antechamber where the king 
dined, two into his bedchamber, and three into the grand gal- 
lery. The decorations of the grand antechamber have es- 
caped the ravages of the Revolution and the architects of 
the Empire, and are very beautiful. The frieze of children, 
in bas-reliefs of gilded stucco, which surrounds the room 
between the cornice and vault of the ceiling, has remarkable 
grace and charm. This is the work of four artists, Flamen, 
Van Cleve, Hurtrelle, and Pouitier. The ceiling is white, 
for none of the private apartments have frescoed ceilings. 
Between the doors are large mirrors in gilded frames of ex- 
cellent workmanship, and the doors themselves are richly 
carved and gilded. To the right and left of the entrances to 
the gallery hang equestrian portraits of the king and of Mon- 
sieur, his brother ; that of the king was formerly in the salon 
of Abundance. On the opposite wall may be seen a large 
painting by Nocret, representing the family of Louis XIV, 
near which stands a table of the king's day, of carved and 
gilded wood with a top of granite. The grand antechamber 
lacks nothing but light to make it superb ; it has two windows 
looking on the marble court, and two on the small interior 
court called the queen's court, but they seem hardly sufficient. 
In this apartment the princes and the nobles, admitted to the 
lever of the king, waited each morning for the hour when the 
doors of the royal bedchamber were opened for them to enter. 

THE BEDCHAMBER OF LOUIS XIV 

The king's chamber is sumptuous and magnificent. As it is 
the center of the chateau, so it was the center of the old court 

36 



The Private Apartments of the King 

life; to enter through those white-and-gold doors, where one 
passes now so easily, was once the ambition of thousands of 
men and women. There are some curious statements in 
the Memoirs of Saint-Simon ; for example, the following sen- 
tence, referring to the king's chamber at Versailles : " His 
own apartments and those of the queen are inconvenient to 
the last degree, dull, close, stinking." ^ No doubt, according 
to modern ideas of comfort, the king's chamber was inconve- 
nient, but the duke's other adjectives are nothing more than 
the splenetic effusions of a disappointed and spiteful man. 

The view from the windows of the royal bedchamber, 
across the spacious courtyards and down the distant Avenue 
de Paris, is more striking than that obtained from any other 
apartment of the palace, with the exception of the view of 
the gardens from the windows of the Galerie des Glaces. 
There is abundance of light, for the king's chamber faces the 
east. The white-and-gold blinds, adorned with the royal 
cipher and crown, are still in place; but they are opened no 
longer at eight in the morning by a valet de chambre that a 
Sun King may rise and shine upon a waiting world. At 
either end of the room are fireplaces with mantels of bluish 
marble and large mirrors adorned with gilded sculptures. 
The richly carved cornice and the walls with their beautiful 
pilasters are a mass of gilding. The west wall is hung with 
crimson velvet, bordered with gold, and above the cornice 
France sits enthroned on a heap of arms, beneath a gilded 
pavilion.^ Below stands the king's bed on an estrade under 
a lofty canopy adorned with white plumes. The balustrade 
of carved and gilded wood, which separates the bed from the 
remainder of the apartment, is that of Louis's day, as is the 
bed itself, but neither the canopy of the bed nor the furniture 

^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 369. give also the names of the four ar- 

= These sculptures are the work tists who carved the figures above 

of Coustou and Lespingola. The the doors and mirrors— Julien, Ar- 

Comptes des Batiments of 1701-02 mand, Guyot, and Nourisson. 

37 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

at either side appeared there at that period. However, Louis 
PhiHppe, who saved Versailles from utter ruin, has spared 
no pains to reproduce here, with such materials as were at 
his command, the bedchamber of the Grand Monarch, and 
he has been successful, much more so than in some of his 
other efforts in the palace. The paintings which hung for- 
merly at either side of the bed, " David," by Domenichino, 
and " St. John," by Raphael, are now in the Louvre. The 
Etat de la France de ifoS gives the following details : " They 
are accustomed to make the king's bed while His Majesty 
is at mass. In making it a valet de chambre is at either side 
and an upholsterer at the foot. A valet de chambre remains 
seated inside the balustrade to guard the bed, and at meal- 
time he is relieved by one of his comrades. It is his business 
to guard the bed and to prevent any one from coming inside 
the balustrade. One of the valets de chambre on duty for 
the day should guard the king's bed throughout the whole 
day, remaining inside the balustrade. The ushers take care 
that people do not put on their hats or seat themselves in the 
chamber. Whenever the king leaves the chateau for a few 
days, a valet de chambre remains to guard the bed and 
sleeps at the foot of it." ^ These precautions were necessary 
in an apartment through which so many people passed 
daily. In passing the bed the courtiers, according to 
etiquette, saluted it : the ladies made a curtsy and the men 
bowed. 

In this bedchamber the ceremonies of the lever and coucher 
of the king took place each day; here, also, the king fre- 
quently gave audience to ambassadors and received the oath 
of the officers of his household, and here each day he dined 
ail petit convert. At the present time one of the most in- 
teresting works of art in the royal chamber hangs to the left 
of the bed, under a copy of a painting by Rubens; it is a 
^Dussieux, I, p. 232. 

38 



The Private Apartments of the King 

medallion in wax of Louis XIV, executed by Antoine Benoist 
in 1706, a remarkable portrait of the king in his old age. 



THE KING'S CABINETS 

At the present time the king's cabinets are united in one 
apartment called the hall of the Council, a room opening on 
one side into the king's bedchamber, on another into the 
grand gallery, and on a third into the bedchamber of Louis 
XV, formerly the billiard-room. Under Louis XIV this hall 
of the Council was divided into two cabinets ; the larger cab- 
inet, next to the royal chamber, was called the king's cabinet, 
and the smaller one, beyond, the cabinet of Wigs. The king's 
cabinet was magnificently furnished. His writing-desk was 
of silver-gilt, enriched with four diamonds at the corners, 
and having a drawer whose handle was adorned with a 
large diamond. The inkstand, which rested on a tray of blue 
enamel, was in the form of a globe of blue enamel, orna- 
mented with diamond fleurs-de-lis, and surmounted by a sun 
with rays of gold set with diamonds, bearing the legend 
Nee plurihus impar} At either side of the globe, lions of 
carved silver held on their heads the ink-bottle and the sand- 
box. The seals were of gold. De Villiers had made the ink- 
stand ; and on the chimneypiece stood a clock of gold, adorned 
with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, the work of Langlois. 
The furniture was covered with green velvet bordered with 
gold fringe, and the walls were hung with a number of rare 
paintings in frames of gilded wood, carved by Caffieri, or in 
frames of carved silver. There were also fourteen busts and 
statues of marble or of bronze. This sumptuous cabinet was 
the center of the monarchy; here the king worked with his 
ministers, and in this room he decided upon nearly all the 

^Inventaire des diamants de la Couronne, II, p. 75 
(Dussieux, I, p. 223). 

39 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

important measures of the last thirty years of his reign. He 
had here his plans of fortifications and canals. 

In the adjoining cabinet the king's wigs were kept in glass 
cases. He changed his wig several times each day, usually 
before going to mass, before driving out after dinner, on re- 
turning from the hunt or the promenade, and again before 
going to supper. These changes were necessary that His 
Majesty might appear at all hours in a wig properly curled 
and in perfect order. Every morning Quentin, the king's 
barber, who had charge of the wigs, brought to Louis two 
of different lengths that he might choose one to begin the 
day. 

There were also the little cabinets which surrounded the 
Cour des Cerfs, two of which opened into the cabinet of Wigs ; 
but these were swept away by Louis XV, who made great 
changes in this part of the chateau. One was the king's 
bath-room; in others the people of the service, the gargons 
hleus, were in waiting, and in some he kept his dogs. Where 
one sees to-day Louis XV's cabinet of the Chase there was 
formerly a staircase, the back staircase to which Saint-Simon 
frequently refers ; by it the king could go down to the marble 
court if he did not wish to take his coach at the public en- 
trance, and he made use of it often to grant secret audiences 
in his cabinet when for one reason or another it might have 
been unwise to have had the person received pass through 
the Hall of the Guards and the crowded antechambers ; by it 
also the people of the service came and went. 

THE BILLIARD-ROOM 

From the king's cabinet and from the cabinet of Wigs doors 
led to the billiard-room, which became later the bedchamber 
of Louis XV and of Louis XVL King Louis XIV was fond 
of billiards, and his taste for the game lasted a long time. 

40 



The Private Apartments of the King 

On winter evenings he played with M. de Vendome and the 
Due de Gramont, and especially with the Marechal de Vil- 
leroi and M, de Chamillart ; the latter, who became Secretary 
of State, owed the foundation of his fortune to his skill 
with the cue. Among its decorations the billiard-room had 
seventeen large branched candlesticks of gilded bronze, which 
were the work of Boule. 

THE CABINETS OF AGATES AND OF JEWELS 

These two apartments, separated only by arches, formed a 
glittering hall, and were filled with precious objects. To- 
gether with the billiard-room, just mentioned, they occupied 
the north side of the marble court on the main floor. Under 
Louis XV the cabinet of Agates was changed and redecorated 
and became the salon of the Clocks, one of the most beau- 
tiful of his private apartments. The arches were closed 
by a wall, and the cabinet of Jewels was transformed into 
a dining-room. But, as was generally the case with Louis 
XV, what he destroyed was superior to what he created. 
From 1684 to 1686 Louis XIV purchased many curiosities 
and works of art for these rooms. He had agents every- 
where, in Venice, in Rome, in Constantinople, in Milan; 
and Europe and the East were ransacked for costly vases 
and rare jewels to garnish the Sun King's cabinets at Ver- 
sailles. The furniture and jewel cabinets in these apartments 
were made by Boule, and the paintings were set in frames 
of carved silver or of silver-gilt. 

THE LITTLE GALLERY AND THE CABINET OF MEDALS 

The cabinet of Jewels opened into an oval salon lined with 
mirrors, and that, in turn, gave access to the little gallery, 
whose windows looked out on the royal court above the en- 
trance to the ambassadors' staircase. The site of the little gal- 

41 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

lery had been occupied previously by the apartments of Ma- 
dame de Montespan at the time of her favor. This gallery 
had a splendid ceiling, painted by Mignard, who received 
33,000 livres for the work, and, with a salon at either end, 
was decorated on a small scale like the Galerie des Glaces. 
From the little gallery doors opened upon the landing of the 
ambassadors' staircase. 

The cabinet of Medals, though not directly connected with 
the king's private apartments, belonged, however, to the suite. 
To reach it the king passed from the little gallery along the 
landing of the ambassadors' staircase into the salon of Venus, 
and turned to the right into the small salon of Abundance, 
in the south wall of which a door, raised two steps from the 
floor, led to the cabinet of Medals. The room was octagonal 
in form, richly gilded, hung with pictures by Van Dyck, 
Holbein, Raphael, and Claude Lorrain, and lined with mir- 
rors and beautiful cabinets containing medals, coins, and 
cameos. Of these Louis had a superb collection in gold, sil- 
ver, bronze, agate, jasper, onyx, and all sorts of precious 
stones, and he went to see them frequently and to show them 
to others, for he was very fond of art and of artistic things. 
Rainsant, who had charge of the medals, had arranged the 
collection with so much intelligence that Louis was delighted 
and took pleasure in studying with him the most curious 
pieces. On such occasions Pere de la Chaise, who was fond 
of medals and pretended to be well versed in the subject, 
made that a pretext for being with the king. The greater 
part of the royal collection is now in the National Library 
in Paris. With this cabinet of Medals the private apartments 
of the king ended. Therefore let us return to the upper vesti- 
bule of the marble staircase on the opposite side of the royal 
court and inspect the apartments of Madame de Maintenon. 



42 



VIII 

THE APARTMENTS OF MADAME DE 

MAINTENON 

IOUIS PHILIPPE deserves so much credit for saving 
the Chateau of Versailles from ruin and for estab- 
lishing the magnificent historical museum. which it 
^ contains that it is unpleasant to have to criticize him 
severely; but the fact remains that in the apartments of 
Madame de Maintenon Louis Philippe's work was nothing 
less than vandalism. Both the Citizen King and his architects 
labored under the delusion that those apartments were on 
the north side of the royal court instead of on the south, 
when, as Dussieux in his admirable work on Versailles has 
pointed out, they might have discovered their error with the 
least research.^ Thus, without knowing what they were 
doing, and in order to build a staircase to the attic floor and 
find room for a number of paintings illustrating the history 
of France from 1792 to 1796, they destroyed apartments so 
full of souvenirs. 

The apartments of Madame de Maintenon opened upon 
the upper vestibule of the marble staircase, directly opposite 
the Hall of the King's Guards, and consisted of five rooms. 
These were composed as follows : two antechambers with 
a little cabinet, a bedchamber, and a grand cabinet. The 
antechambers and the bedchamber were above the main en- 
trance to the marble staircase of the queen, and their win- 
^Dussieux, I, p. 274. 

43 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

dows looked out on the royal court. The little cabinet, which 
had a narrow staircase leading to the entresol for the use 
of the servants, opened out of the first antechamber; in 
crossing the first antechamber to the second, people passed 
the door of this cabinet on the right. The bedchamber, which 
opened out of the second antechamber, was a corner room, 
and its windows and balconies still remain. 

This bedchamber was lighted by two windows on the north 
and east. Opposite the north window was the chimney, and 
to the right of the chimney, back in an alcove which had 
neither light nor air, stood the bed of Madame de Maintenon, 
In the corner of the room to the left of the chimney a narrow 
passage, which still exists, led from the bedchamber to the 
grand cabinet. It is unfortunate that no traces remain of 
the decorations of this bedchamber, where the king spent so 
much time in the latter years of his life, and where so much 
business was transacted. Saint-Simon tells us that when 
Louis worked with his ministers in the apartment of Ma- 
dame de Maintenon the king's table was placed at the left 
of the chimney, on the side of the cabinet mentioned above, 
and that his arm-chair stood with its back to the wall. 
There was a stool for the minister, and another for his papers. 
On the other side of the chimney, in a niche of red damask, 
Madame de Maintenon sat in an arm-chair, with a small 
table before her. 

The king gave these apartments to Madame de Maintenon 
in 1682, and not, as has been frequently stated, after her 
marriage with His Majesty. In the Comptes de 1682 we find 
that Jouvenet and Mazeline were working on the sculptures 
and the decorations, but it is possible that Madame de Main- 
tenon did not occupy the rooms until the following year, at 
which time, according to the Comptes de 1683, ^^e wainscot, 
the painting, and the gilding were finished. In 1698 Louis 
enlarged the apartments of Madame de Maintenon by giving 

44 



The Apartments of Madame de Maintenon 

her two rooms, previously occupied by the Cardinal de Fur- 
stemberg, which were near her grand cabinet; but in 1713 she 
gave them up to the Due d'Alenqon, the son of the Due de 
Berry. She had also her hotel at Versailles, 18 Rue des Bons- 
Enfants, and, like all the fashionable world, her chateau in 
the country, that of Maintenon. 



45 



IX 

THE GRAND HALL OF THE GUARDS AND 
OTHER APARTMENTS 

THE Grand Hall of the Guards opens upon the land- 
ing of the marble staircase and into the Hall of the 
Queen's Guards, and its windows look out on the 
parterre du Midi. On the third side was the bed- 
chamber of Madame de Maintenon, and on the fourth her 
grand cabinet, but in the reign of Louis XIV no doors con- 
nected the Hall of the Guards with those apartments. The 
original decorations have entirely disappeared, and at present, 
as a part of the palace museum, the Hall of the Guards is de- 
voted to Napoleon and the glories of the First Empire. This 
hall was the first chapel of the chateau from 1670 to 1682, at 
which date the second chapel was constructed to the north 
of the royal court on the site of the present salon of Hercules. 
In the Grand Hall of the Guards, Louis XIV washed the feet 
of the poor each year on Holy Thursday. 

From this hall a handsome passage led to the large salon 
connecting the central portion of the chateau with the south 
wing. There certain shopkeepers, who had bought the priv- 
ilege, had their booths in which they sold, for the conve- 
nience of the courtiers, books, stationery, watches, jewelry, 
toilet articles, and perfumery; and this fact gave the room 
its name, the salon of Shopkeepers. Under Louis XIV these 
people were kept within limits, but at a later period they 
spread themselves on the landings of the staircases and in 

46 



The Grand Hall of the Guards and Other Apartments 

other parts of the chateau. Beyond this salon was the spa- 
cious staircase of the princes from which doors led to the 
apartments of the long south wing, where the princes of the 
blood were lodged. 

THE APARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNESS OF THE 
CHILDREN OF FRANCE 

After 1682 the governess of the Children of France was the 
Marechale de la Mothe, who occupied a suite of rooms on the 
main floor of the wing which stands between the royal court 
and the court of the princes. There she brought up the three 
sons of the Grand Dauphin, the Dues de Bourgogne, d'Anjou, 
and de Berry, and later the Due de Bourgogne lived there 
until the death of his father in 171 1, 

THE NORTH AND SOUTH WINGS 

To finish with the main floor of the chateau, a word should be 
added concerning the north and south wings on the side of 
the gardens. The north wing was inhabited by a large num- 
ber of nobles whose residence in the chateau was made neces- 
sary by the nature of the posts they held at court, and also 
by some other people to whom the king had granted apart- 
ments ; while in the south wing, as has been said, the princes 
of the blood were lodged. In both wings the rooms were 
numerous, and in the north wing, owing to the frequent 
changes of occupants, apartments were being altered and 
redecorated continually ; so that, with one or two exceptions, 
it is impossible to locate with any certainty the lodgings of 
particular individuals. The exceptions, however, are worthy 
of note, since they concern the two writers, Dangeau and 
Saint-Simon, who have given us the most intimate know- 
ledge of the court of Louis XIV. Dangeau lived at the end 
of the south wing on the attic floor, facing the garden ; Saint- 

47 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

Simon was lodged on the first floor in the north wing. We 
know also that in 1682 the Dauphine of Bavaria had apart- 
ments in the south wing, which are replaced to-day by a 
portion of the Gallery of Battles, and that she gave birth 
there, on the 6th of August of that year, to the Due de Bour- 
gogne. It would be interesting to know where others lived, 
Racine, for example; but of all the glittering throng that 
passed daily through the gilded antechambers and salons of 
the Sun King no traces remain save the portraits which hang 
in the palace museum. The rooms, the little cabinets, salons, 
bedchambers, and entresols, where they lived and planned 
and plotted and loved and hated, where they were fed and 
flattered, were fired with hope and ambition, or bitten with 
jealousy and chagrin, where they sunned themselves and 
where they suffered, all have disappeared. In their places 
are long galleries and lines of pictures, portraying the glories 
of France. 



48 



X 

THE APARTMENTS OF MONSEIGNEUR 

THE apartments of Mgr. le Grand Dauphin consisted 
of ten rooms on the ground floor of the chateau, 
facing the parterre du Midi, and directly under the 
state apartments of the queen and the salon of 
Peace. Though Monseigneur had no force of character, he 
seems to have had much taste in matters of art, and his rooms 
were so beautiful that on the i8th of February, 1689, the 
king took James H of England to see them, as one of the 
wonders of the chateau. 

The principal entrance to the dauphin's apartments was 
by way of the gallery of the peristyle, or lower gallery as 
it was called then, which is beneath the Galerie des Glaces, 
and is called now, without reason, the Gallery of Louis XHL 
Three cabinets, opening one into another, with windows 
looking out on the great terrace, led to the grand cabinet, 
a corner room under the salon of Peace. Next to the grand 
cabinet was the dauphin's bedchamber; then followed four 
rooms occupied by his wife, the Dauphine of Bavaria; and 
finally the Hall of the Dauphin's Guards, opposite the lower 
vestibule of the marble staircase. The original decorations 
of all these rooms were destroyed by Louis XV in 1747, and 
in turn the decorations of the Louis XV period, which had 
been modified for Marie Antoinette, were destroyed by Louis 
Philippe to find space for portraits of admirals and marshals 
of France. Such pictures were unsuitable, but, thanks to 

49 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

the taste and judgment of M. Pierre de Nolhac, the distin- 
guished curator of the Museum of Versailles, who in the last 
ten years has done so much to make the chateau a history 
of France in art, they have been removed and replaced by 
portraits and decorations appropriate to the eighteenth cen- 
tury. After the time of Monseigneur the rooms were occu- 
pied by his son, the Due de Bourgogne; then by the Regent 
Orleans, who died suddenly in the second cabinet in 1723; 
by the Due de Bourbon during his ministry ; by the Dauphin, 
the son of Louis XV ; by the Comte de Provence, brother of 
Louis XVI ; and finally by the children of Marie Antoinette. 
For the son of Louis XV the bedchamber of Monseigneur 
was divided into two apartments, a cabinet and a library ; the 
latter has escaped destruction, and its decorations in white 
and blue and gold are among the most beautiful specimens 
of French art in the eighteenth century. 

Monseigneur had filled his rooms with riches. " At the 
house of Monseigneur," wrote Felibien, " one sees in the 
cabinets of his apartments an exquisite collection of all that is 
most rare and precious, not only in respect to the necessary 
furniture, tables, cabinets, porcelains, mirrors, chandeliers, 
but also paintings by the most famous masters, bronzes, 
vases of agate, jewels, and cameos. . . . Mignard has 
painted the ceiling of the grand cabinet, where he has rep- 
resented the portrait of Monseigneur. The cabinet which 
opens into the lower gallery in the center of the chateau is 
paneled on walls and ceiling with ebony, in which mirrors are 
set in gilded borders." ^ Boule made most of the furniture 
in these cabinets. In the grand cabinet the front of the 
chimney was decorated with paintings on a gold ground, and 
for one massive table of carved silver Balin was paid 68,259 
livres.^ 

* Dussieux, I, p. 295. '^ Idem. 



50 



XI 

VARIOUS APARTMENTS ON THE GROUND 
FLOOR 

IT is not easy to reconstruct the arrangement of the 
ground floor of the chateau as it existed under 
Louis XIV, nor is it necessary to do so here, except in 
certain particulars, which may serve to throw some 
Hght upon the mechanism of the court, 

THE APARTMENTS OF THE BATHS 

The apartments of the Baths consisted of five large rooms, 
furnished and decorated with great luxury : the vestibule, the 
salon of Diana, the salon, the chamber of the Baths, and the 
cabinet of the Baths. They were beneath the state apart- 
ments of the king, and their windows opened on the parterre 
du Nord and on the great terrace ; all were lined with the most 
beautiful marbles, brought from all parts of France, and 
adorned with painted ceilings and marble columns with bases 
and capitals of gilded bronze. The vestibule was beneath 
the salons of Mars and of Mercury; the salon was under 
the salon of War, while the chamber and the cabinet of the 
Baths were below the north end of the Galerie des Glaces. 
In both the chamber and the cabinet there were marble tubs, 
the one in the cabinet being octagonal in form, richly carved, 
and costing 9000 livres in 1673.^ Among the decorations of 
the chamber was a mirror of marble. 

^This tub was taken in 1750 to the Hermitage of Madame 
de Pompadour. 

51 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

In 1684 the king took from Madame de Montespan the 
rooms she had occupied on the first floor, to the north of the 
royal court, adjoining his private apartments. This was 
the first public mark of her disgrace, and followed almost im- 
mediately Louis's marriage with Madame de Maintenon. He 
gave to the Marquise de Montespan the apartments of the 
Baths, but to render them habitable for her it was necessary 
to remove many of the marbles, especially the marble floors, 
for which floors of wood were substituted. The marquise 
took possession of her new apartments in January, 1685, 
and occupied them until March, 1691, the time of her final 
departure from the court. Louis presented them then to the 
Due du Maine, and later to the Comte de Toulouse, both of 
whom were his sons by Madame de Montespan. 

THE APARTMENTS OF THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARDS 

The captain of the guards was lodged, facing the marble 
court, directly under the king ; his bedchamber was below the 
king's cabinet. Since it was his business to follow the king 
everywhere, whenever the monarch was out of his chamber, 
it was necessary to have him close at hand. He walked 
immediately behind the king, and no one was permitted to 
pass between him and the sovereign. When the king mounted 
his horse or took his carriage, the captain of the guards fol- 
lowed him on horseback or in a carriage, and at table he stood 
behind the monarch's chair. 

THE KING'S WARDROBE 

The rooms in which Louis's wearing-apparel and robes of 
state were kept faced the marble court on the south side, and 
were below the Hall of the King's Guards and the first ante- 
chamber. The service of the Wardrobe was directed by a 

52 



Various Apartments on the Ground Floor 

grand master, having under his orders two masters of the 
Wardrobe, four first valets, sixteen valets, four gargons 
ordinaires, and a large number of subordinates, tailors, ho- 
siers, bootmakers, etc. 

The other rooms on the ground floor of the chateau were 
occupied under Louis XIV by different members of the no- 
bility, and can therefore be omitted. But before leaving the 
palace to pass to some of its dependencies, let us turn to the 
chapel, where the Grand Monarch, who had become devout 
through the influence of Madame de Maintenon, sat so fre- 
quently in the last years of his life. 



53 



XII 

THE CHAPEL 

THE first chapel of the chateau, that of Louis XIII, 
was on the first floor, on the site of the queen's 
staircase, and was destroyed in 1671, at the time 
of the construction of that staircase. While wait- 
ing for the new chapel to be finished, a temporary chapel was 
prepared in the Grand Hall of the Guards, which, neverthe- 
less, served as the chapel of the chateau for ten years, 1672 
to 1682, as is sometimes the case with things erected orig- 
inally to fill a temporary need. On the 30th of April, 1682, 
the third chapel was blessed by the Archbishop of Paris in the 
presence of the king and queen, and from that date until the 
5th of June, 1 7 10, a period of twenty-eight years, the king 
heard mass there.^ That chapel was destined to play a more 
important part in the life of Versailles than its predecessors. 
In July, 1683, the queen died, and in the following June, in 
that third chapel royal of the chateau, the King of France was 
married to Franqoise d'Aubigne, Marquise de Maintenon, 
and a new epoch began at court. 

In 1698 the king, who had become devout, determined to 
raise that monument of his piety, the grand chapel of Ver- 
sailles, which we see to-day. It stands to the north of the 
royal court, on a line with the pavilion of Gabriel, having 
between it and that pavilion the small court of the chapel. 

^The third chapel occupied the present site of the 
salon of Hercules. 

54 



■■■■■ K»n 




Wli*!^ 


ik. 


in 




The Chapel 

The chapel has two vestibules; the one on the ground floor 
opens into the colonnade leading to the garden under the 
salon of Hercules, while the upper vestibule on the first floor 
opens into that salon, which, as has been said, was constructed 
in the reign of Louis XV. Under Louis XIV the tribune 
of the third chapel, which was preserved in 1710, when the 
third chapel was destroyed, served as a passage from the state 
apartments of the king to the upper vestibule of the new 
chapel. 

The king's first idea was to have a building entirely of 
marble, but on reflection he decided that such a building 
would be too cold and damp, and although the works were 
under way he stopped them in March, 1699, ^^d demolished 
what had been begun in order to build anew, this time in cut 
stone, the whitest and finest that could be found. Mansart 
was then the king's first architect, and drew the designs for 
the edifice, taking some parts of his plan from the Sainte Cha- 
pelle in Paris, though the work was finally completed by Rob- 
ert de Cotte. The exterior, with its statues and bas-reliefs 
and richly ornamented roof, is so handsome that the chapel 
deserves a site less shut in by the other buildings of the 
chateau, in order that it might be seen to greater advantage. 

The decoration of the interior is magnificent. Above the 
marble arcades at either side of the nave rise the lofty white 
Corinthian columns which support the roof. Between the 
bases of the columns runs a gilded balustrade, and the arcades 
are covered with sculptured bas-reliefs. The large paintings 
on the ceiling, striking in conception and gorgeous in color- 
ing, are the work of Jouvenet, of Coypel, and of Delafosse, 
and represent the Descent of the Holy Ghost, God in Glory, 
and the Resurrection. The compartments of the ceilings to 
the right and left above the tribunes were painted by Bou- 
logne the younger; and the royal cipher and the arms of 
France which adorn the windows are the work of Michu. 

55 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

The altar, raised on three steps, is of marble and gilded 
bronze, decorated with bronze statues, and surmounted by a 
heavenly Glory, carved by Van CI eve. The royal tribune, 
which opens into the upper vestibule, faces the altar and fills 
the width of the nave. The circular parts at the sides sup- 
ported formerly two lantern-towers of glass and gilded wood, 
which served as oratories for the king and Madame de Main- 
tenon, that of the king being on the left, and Madame de 
Maintenon's on the right. 

By the present regulations of the palace museum, the in- 
terior of the chapel must be viewed from the upper vestibule 
behind the royal tribune, for admission to the ground floor is 
to be obtained only through a special permit ; but it is worth 
while to take the trouble to secure such a permit that one may 
examine the carvings and bronzes at close range, and turning 
see, as the courtiers saw it, the splendid tribune of the king. 
There, behind his gilded balustrade covered with red velvet, 
he sat and knelt, the cynosure of every eye. " Whoever,"^ 
says La Bruyere, " considers that the king's countenance is 
the courtier's supreme felicity, that he passes his life looking 
on it and within sight of it, will comprehend to some extent 
how to see God constitutes the glory and happiness of the 
saints." Yet the glittering throng that filled this stately edi- 
fice, gazing not at the altar, but at the royal tribune, heard 
plain language. Bourdaloue preached here his famous ser- 
mon on hypocrisy, and Pere Soanen spoke his mind on luxury 
and vice with such severity that Louis called the sermon " a 
trumpet-blast from heaven." Above all, they had Massillon, 
to whom the king made this remark : " My father, I have 
heard other preachers and have been well pleased with them, 
but when I hear you I am much dissatisfied with myself." ^ 

On the 5th of June, 17 10, the Cardinal de Noailles, Arch- 
bishop of Paris, blessed the new chapel of Versailles, and on 
^Dussieux, II, p. no. 
56 




Interior of the Chapel 



The Chapel 

the 7th of June the king and the Duchesse de Bourgogne 
made their devotions there for the first time. In this fourth 
and final chapel, which he had been ten years in building, the 
Grand Monarch heard mass during the remaining five years 
of his life.^ 



* The principal preachers who de- 
livered sermons before the king in 
the old chapel of Versailles were 
Bourdaloue (1684, 1686, 1689, 1691, 
1693, 1697) ; Soanen of the Oratory 
(1686, 1688, 1695), an orator of 
rare eloquence and great severity; 
Gaillard, a Jesuit (1688, 1690, 
1698) ; Massillon, the great orator 
of the end of the reign, who 
preached for the first time at 



court on the ist of November, 
1699; Maure (1700); Bonneau 
(1701) ; Lombard (1703). In the 
new chapel: Quinquet (1711) ; 
Canappeville (1712) ; Eon (1713) ; 
Poncet de la Riviere (1715), who 
was the last preacher heard by 
Louis XIV. Bossuet preached be- 
fore the king from 1662 to 1669 at 
the Louvre and at St. Germain, but 
never at Versailles. 



17 



XIII 
THE GRAND COMMUN 

THE Grand Commun, a large square brick building, 
constructed about an interior court, stands on the 
Rue de la Surintendance, opposite the south wing 
of the chateau, and is used at present as a military 
hospital. Erected by Mansart from 1682 to 1685, it con- 
tained under Louis XIV the royal kitchens, and the lodgings 
of the people connected with the service of the king's table, 
or, as they called it then, the Bouche du Roi. This service, 
one of the eleven grand services affecting the person of the 
king, will be given now in detail. 

Under Louis XIV the Grand Commun had thirty-two 
apartments on the first floor, and thirty-four on the second, 
for the various officers of the Maison du Roi, and in addition 
a large number of lodgings for the people of the service, in 
all about 1000 rooms with not less than 1500 inhabitants. 
At the head of the service was the grand master of the 
Maison du Roi. Then came the four chief officers : the premier 
mattre d'hotel, assisted by twelve maitres d'hotel, serving by 
the quarter, that is, one week in each month, and carrying 
when on duty, as the sign of their authority, a baton of silver- 
gilt; the grand pantler; the grand cup-bearer; the grand 
carver. The last three officials appeared only at certain 
great ceremonies, at a coronation for example; ordinarily 
their functions were performed by thirty-six gentlemen ser- 
vants of the king, serving by the quarter. The service was 

58 




!,,„rm;Mio.i of Bra,,,,, CU„„„t f C, 



Jules Hardouin Mansart 



The Grand Commun 



divided into seven offices, charged with the preparation of 
the food and drink for the tables of the king and queen and 
of the princes of the blood, and was composed as follows : 
the Goblet of the King, divided into the Pantry and the Wine- 
cellars; the King's Food, or Kitchen Food, intended only for 
the king himself; the Pantry-ordinary; the Wine-cellars- 
ordinary; the Kitchen-ordinary; the Fruit-loft; the Quarter- 
master's Department. According to the Etat de la France de 
iyi2, the seven offices employed three hundred and twenty- 
four persons : butlers, controllers, head cooks and under-cooks, 
cup-bearers, carvers, plate-changers, table-setters, chair-bear- 
ers, equerries, scullions, turnspits, cellarers, common garden- 
ers and salad gardeners, porters, laundry servants, etc. 

The officers of the Pantry had charge of the table-linen, the 
bread and the fruit, and each morning it was the duty of the 
chief of the Pantry to bring the king's breakfast, bread or 
bouillon, to the royal bedchamber. The officers of the Wine- 
cellars looked after the wine and water. " Every day, before 
the lever of the king, two chiefs of the Goblet, one of the 
Pantry, the other of the Wine-cellars, carry into the king's 
cabinet some bread, two bottles of wine, two bottles of water, 
two napkins, and some ice, which they place in His Majesty's 
bottle-case, that stands in the cabinet, in case His Majesty 
wishes to drink promptly. These officers of the Goblet should 
make the trial,^ in the presence of the first valet de chambre, 
of all that they bring." ^ The officers of the Goblet appeared 
at all the king's meals, and also at the collations served when 
the king returned from the chase. If he was at the Council, 
or was occupied in some other manner, and desired to drink, 
it was their business to bring water or wine. They assisted, 

^The trial (essai), that is, the tain portion in a separate dish or 

tasting, as a precaution against glass was always brought for 

poison, was required by custom the essai. 

whenever any food or drink was " Dussieux, II, p. 149. 
served to the king, and a cer- 



59 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

too, at the king's communions in the chapel and presented the 
napkins. To the service of the Goblet were attached, also, 
such people as the wine-porter and the pack-horse-porter. 
Their duties were as follows : " The wine-porter is to bring 
to the chase, or wherever the king may have gone, the col- 
lation of His Majesty. This collation is placed in a basket 
of red cloth, bordered with gold, and having on two sides 
the arms of the king. It consists of bread, biscuits, fruit, 
pastry, napkins, wine and water in two silver flagons, and a 
portion of all for the trial. The pack-horse-porter carries 
on campaign, on a pack-horse, table-linen, knives, salt, bread, 
fruit, sweetmeats, a cup for the king and another for the 
trial, for fear that the wagons and pack-horses, ordered for 
the purpose, may not arrive in time." ^ 

The Kitchen prepared the king's food. The chief of the 
service was the Kitchen equerry, under whom were the head 
cook, who had charge of the entrees, another cook (hdteur)y 
who had charge of the roast meats, and the head gardener, 
who managed the kitchen-gardens. These were the principal 
officers, but the service employed many people. Here are 
some of the duties of the subordinates : " The kitchen boys are 
obliged to cut the meats. In the evening the gardener gives 
them the meat for the king's broth. They cook it at night, 
and in the morning the gardener, taking it from them, makes 
the broth, which he places in the hands of the equerry, on 
duty for the day, to serve to His Majesty. The porters 
bring wood and water and supply charcoal. They provide 
also the kitchen utensils and keep them in good order. They 
are obliged to go to the Quartermaster's Department for 
wood to warm the water at night for the king's broth, and to 
sleep on guard, as well as the kitchen boys, to guard the broth. 
The pack-horse ^ of the kitchen carries the King's Meat on 

^Dussieux, II, p. 150. 

'^ That is to say, the porter of the pack-horse. 

60 



The Grand Commun 



a journey ; the pack-horse of the chase carries the cold meats 
for the king. The monitor follows the king on a journey, 
and gives notice to the cooks when the king arrives, and the 
hour at which he wishes to dine or sup." ^ 

The Fruit-loft had the service of the fruit for the king's 
table, but in addition it furnished the wax candles for the 
chandeliers and candlesticks in the chateau, the torches car- 
ried by the valets, and the palms for Palm Sunday. 

The Quartermaster's Department supplied all the fire- 
wood and charcoal burned in the chateau. The officers 
of that service made the fire in the king's bedchamber before 
His Majesty rose in the morning, and it was their business 
to make and keep up the fires in the royal apartments during 
the day. But in spite of all that the service could do, those 
vast salons, with nothing save open fireplaces to heat them, 
were cold in winter. 

The other three services— that is to say, the Pantry-ordi- 
nary, Wine-cellars-ordinary, and Kitchen-ordinary — furnished 
food and drink to all the officers of the Maison du Roi who 
had the right to eat at court, or, as it was called then, bouche 
a cour. At the Grand Commun the queen had her seven 
offices also, like those of the king ; the dauphin had as many, 
and the dauphine likewise. All this complicated administra- 
tion was regulated by the Bureau du Roi, composed of the 
king's premier maitre d'hotel, other mattres d'hotel serving by 
the quarter, the masters of the Money-chamber, and the con- 
troller of the Kitchen. They received the funds for the ex- 
penses of the Grand Commun and paid the various officers. 
It was the business of the controller to receive the meats and 
fish, and to examine all the accounts of the Goblet and the 
Kitchen. 

The following details from the Etat de la France de 1712 
show how the king's dinner was served when he dined in 
^ Dussieux, II, p. 151. 
61 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

public : " The usher of the hall, having received the order 
for the king's cover/ goes to the Hall of the Guards, strikes 
with his wand upon the door of their hall, and cries aloud, 
' Messieurs, au convert du Roi! ' ; then with a guard he re- 
turns to the Goblet. After that the chief of the Goblet brings 
the nef,^ while the other ofificers carry the remaining articles 
which compose the cover. The body-guard and the usher 
march near the nef, carrying two table-cloths, and the usher 
of the hall marches before them, holding his wand, and in 
the evening a torch also. When they have reached the place 
where the trial table is prepared, the usher of the hall un- 
folds one of the table-cloths, and the usher and the chief 
of the Goblet, each holding an end of the cloth, throw it 
adroitly over the trial table. The officers of the Goblet place 
the nef and prepare the rest of the cover. Then the gen- 
tleman servant on duty for the trial makes ready the trial, 
for the chief of the Goblet, of the bread and salt of the king ; 
he also makes the trial of the napkins which are in the nef, 
and of the spoons, forks, knives, and tooth-picks of His 
Majesty, which are in the cadenas, and prepares the trial of 
them for the chief of the Goblet. Having done this, the gen- 
tleman servant takes possession of the trial table and contin- 
ues to guard it. 

" The trial having been made, the officers of the Goblet 
go to the table where the king dines and cover it with a table- 
cloth. Upon this cloth the gentlemen servants spread a large 
napkin, one half of which hangs below the top of the table 
in front of His Majesty's chair, and on the napkin they place 
the king's cover — his plate, his bread and salt, the cadenas 

^ By the cover {couvert) was salt-cellars, the napkins, between 
meant the dressing of the table, the scented cushions, and the carving- 
king's bread and salt, his plate, knives. In passing the nef all per- 
glass and cup, knife, spoon, fork, sons saluted it, as they did the 
etc. king's bed. When not in service 

^ The nef was of gold in the it was kept on the chimneypiece of 

form of a ship, and contained the the cabinet of Medals. 

62 



The Grand Commun 



containing his knife, fork, and spoon, and his napkin folded. 
One of the gentlemen servants then draws over all the half 
of the large napkin that hangs below the table, and places 
the serving-plates, and the spoons and forks, wrapped in a 
napkin between two plates of gold, which will be required 
in the service. Having done this, he remains beside the 
table to guard the king's cover. 

" Meanwhile the usher of the hall, who has returned 
to the Hall of the Guards, strikes with his wand against their 
door, and cries loudly, ' Messieurs, a la Viande du Roi! ' 
He goes then to the office of the Kitchen, where he finds the 
maitre d'hotel on duty, a gentleman servant, and the con- 
troller." 1 

In such fashion the table was made ready for the King's 
Meat {Viande du Roi), but to reach the royal table the king's 
dinner, on leaving the Grand Commun, had to cross the Rue 
de la Surintendance, enter the south wing of the chateau by 
the door opposite the Grand Commun, ascend a staircase,^ 
pass through several corridors, cross the upper vestibule of 
the staircase of the princes, the salon of the Shopkeepers, the 
Grand Hall of the Guards, the upper vestibule of the marble 
staircase, and finally the Hall of the King's Guards, in order 
to reach the first antechamber, where, as has been said, the 
king dined in public when he dined thus in his own apart- 
ments; when he dined in public with the queen the pere- 
grinations of the dinner were the same to the Grand Hall 
of the Guards, from which it was carried through the Hall 
of the Queen's Guards to her antechamber. In view of these 
facts, it is not surprising that a large number of persons were 
required in the service of the Bouche. The manner in which 
the King's Meat came to table was regulated by the Ordon- 
nances de la Maison du Roi as follows : 

^ Dussieux, II, pp. 138-139. 

' This staircase was destroyed by Louis Philippe. 



63 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

" The Meat of His Majesty will be carried in this order : 
Two of his guards will march first, followed by the usher of 
the hall, the maitre d'hotel with his baton, the gentleman ser- 
vant of the Pantry, the controller-general, the controller 
clerk of the office, and others who carry the Meat, the equerry 
of the Kitchen and the guard of the plates and dishes, and 
behind them two other guards of His Majesty, who are to 
allow no one to approach the Meat. 

" In the office called the Bouche, the equerry of the Kitchen 
arranges the dishes upon a table, and presents two trials of 
bread to the maitre d'hotel, who makes the trial of the first 
course, and who, having placed the meats for the trial upon 
these two trials of bread, gives one to the equerry of the 
Kitchen, who eats it, while the other is eaten by the maitre 
d'hotel. Afterward the gentleman servant takes the first 
dish, the second is taken by the controller, and the other 
officers of the Kitchen take the rest. They advance in this 
order; the maitre d'hotel, having his baton, marches at the 
head, preceded some steps by the usher of the hall, carrying 
his wand, which is the sign of his office, and in the evening 
bearing a torch as well. When the Meat, accompanied by 
three of the body-guards with carbines on their shoulders, 
has arrived,^ the maitre d'hotel makes a reverence to the 
nef. The gentleman servant, holding the first dish, places 
it upon the table where the nef is, and having received a trial 
portion from the gentleman servant in charge of the trial 
table, he makes the trial himself and places his dish upon the 
trial table. The gentleman servant having charge of this 
table takes the other dishes from the hands of those who 
carry them, and places them also on the trial table. After 
the trial of them has been made they are carried by the other 
gentlemen servants to the table of the king. 

" The first course being upon the table, the maitre d'hotel 
^ That is, in the first antechamber, where the king is to dine. 

64 



The Grand Commun 



with his baton, preceded by the usher of the hall with his 
wand, goes to inform the king; and when His Majesty has 
arrived at table the mattre d'hotel presents a wet napkin to 
him, of which trial has been made in the presence of the 
officer of the Goblet, and takes it again from the king's hands. 
During the dinner the gentleman servant in charge of the 
trial table continues to make trial in the presence of the 
officers of the Goblet and of the Kitchen of all that they 
bring for each course. 

" When His Majesty desires to drink, the cup-bearer cries 
at once in a loud tone, ' The drink for the king ! ' makes a 
reverence to the king, and goes to the sideboard to take from 
the hands of the chief of the Wine-cellars the salver and 
cup of gold, and the two crystal decanters of wine and water. 
He returns, preceded by the chiefs of the Goblet and the 
Wine-cellars, and the three, having reached the king's table, 
make a reverence to His Majesty. The chief of the Goblet, 
standing near the king, holds a little trial cup of silver-gilt, 
into which a gentleman servant pours a small quantity of 
wine and water from the decanters. A portion of this the 
chief of the Goblet pours into a second trial cup which is 
presented by his assistant, who, in turn, hands it to the 
gentleman servant. The chief and the gentleman servant 
make the trial, and when the latter has handed his cup to the 
chief, that officer returns both cups to his assistant. When the 
trial has been made in this manner in the king's sight, the 
gentleman servant, making a reverence to the king, presents 
to His Majesty the cup of gold and the golden salver on 
which are the decanters. The king pours out the wine and 
water, and having drunk, replaces the cup upon the salver. 
The gentleman servant makes another reverence to the king, 
and returns the salver and all upon it to the chief of the 
Wine-cellars, who carries it to the sideboard. 

" The carver, having taken his place before the table of 

65 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

the king, presents and uncovers all the dishes, and when His 
Majesty tells him to do so or makes him a sign, he removes 
them, handing them to the plate-changer ^ or to his assis- 
tants. He changes the king's plate and napkin ^ from time 
to time, and cuts the meats v^hen the king does not cut them 
himself." s 

In such fashion the Grand Monarch dined in public. The 
ushers had orders to admit all well-dressed persons, and 
during the meal a steady stream of people passed slowly 
through the antechamber where the sovereign ate. These 
public dinners, however, did not occur frequently. The king 
usually dined alone in his bedchamber, but he supped every 
evening au grand convert in his antechamber with his chil- 
dren and grandchildren. 

' All the dishes of the king's des- of the serdeau to bourgeois fam- 

sert which remained untouched be- ilies in Versailles, 

longed to the plate-changer, and ' The napkins were kept in the 

were sent to his office, called ser- nef, and at such times it was the 

deau, where they reappeared at the king's almoner who opened and 

dinners of the gentlemen servants, closed the nef. 

or at those of their valets. Some ^Dussieux, II, pp. 139-141. 
dishes, also, were sold by the valets 



66 



XIV 
THE KING'S STABLES 

TO-DAY, disfigured and turned into barracks, the 
king's stables are but the ghosts of what they were. 
The Little Stables are occupied by a corps of en- 
gineers, and the Great Stables by a school of artil- 
lery; the courtyard of the latter is full of artillery wagons^ 
and behind it rises the hideous brick chimney of an adjoining 
manufactory. Of the crowd of travelers hurrying each day 
across the Place d'Armes, eager to see the great chateau and 
the " glories of France " before taking an early train for 
Paris, probably not one in fifty gives these buildings a glance. 
Their glory has departed for good and all ; yet they were once 
very splendid, — so splendid that Louis XIV took pleasure 
in showing them to his guests. 

Erected by Mansart from 1679 to 1682, the stables stand 
between the- three stately avenues that end in the Place 
d'Armes. Viewed from the entrance to the courtyards of the 
chateau, the Great Stables and the Avenue de St. Cloud are 
on the left, and the Little Stables and the Avenue de Sceaux 
upon the right, while between the stables the spacious Avenue 
de Paris, with its double row of trees on either side, stretches 
to the east. The buildings are of equal size, and each had 
five courtyards, four behind and one in front. The court- 
yards in front are much larger than the others and are sep- 
arated from the Place d'Armes by gilded railings,^ and the 

* The present railings date from the Restoration. The original railings, 
decorated with gilded trophies, were very beautiful. 

67 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

buildings about them are in the form of a half-circle in the 
center, flanked by wings with pavilions. Let us examine the 
service of the Stables as it existed under Louis XIV. 

The Stables and the royal stud of St. Leger were in charge 
of the grand equerry of France, who was called, for short, 
Monsieur le Grand. He had under his orders the first equerry 
of the Great Stables, three equerries ordinary, the gentlemen 
of the horse, the state sword-bearers, thirty heralds at arms, 
pursuivants at arms, train-bearers and cloak-bearers, forty- 
six pages with their governor and tutor, forty-six foot-valets, 
eight quartermasters, numberless grooms, coachmen, and far- 
riers, twelve trumpeters, twelve hautboys, eight fife-players, 
drums, cornets, couriers, tailors, saddlers, harness-makers, 
doctors, veterinary surgeons, kitchen officials, laundry ser- 
vants, etc. The grand equerry regulated all the expenses 
of the Great Stables, and received the oath of all the persons 
who served under him. When the king made a state entry 
into a town the grand equerry rode before the sovereign, 
carrying the royal sword in a scabbard of blue velvet. At 
the death of the king all the horses of the Stable and of the 
stud became the property of the grand equerry. Under Louis 
XIV the Great Stables held three hundred horses, the saddle- 
horses of the king, of the princes of the blood, and of the 
couriers. 

The first equerry, called for short Monsieur le Premier, 
commanded the Little Stables, which contained the carriages, 
the caleches, the sedan-chairs, and the wheel-chairs for the 
park. Attached to the service of these stables were three 
equerries, thirty-two pages, fifteen foot-valets, twenty equer- 
ries who followed the king to the war or the chase when 
he went in a coach, and many grooms, coachmen, postilions, 
and porters. The carriage-horses were kept at the Little 
Stables, and in 1712 the king had there twenty-five beautiful 
teams of ten horses each. Monsieur le Premier quarreled 

68 



The King's Stables 



continually with Monsieur le Grand, who considered that 
in virtue of his office he had the right to give orders at the 
Little Stables as well as at the Great. 

In December, 1682, the king, accompanied by Monseigneur, 
visited his new stables, which had just been completed, and 
was well pleased with them ; beyond that, no details are given. 
But in 1686, in connection with the visit of the ambassadors 
of Siam to the royal stables, the Mercure Galant gives the 
following description : " The ambassadors entered the Little 
Stables by the gate of the railing of the Place Royale, and 
were received at the door of the Stables by M. le Marquis de 
Beringhen,^ the first equerry of the king. He was attended 
by M. de Cabanac and two other equerries, by the governor 
of the pages, and by many nobles, the others being at the 
chase with Monseigneur. There v;ere also many foot-valets 
and a very large number of people in livery. 

" After the ambassadors and M. de Beringhen had saluted 
one another and the usual compliments had been made, they 
entered the Stables in two ranks, and the ambassadors were 
first shown five teams of ten horses each, among which they 
remarked the black horses of Spain, the bays of Brandebourg, 
which the Elector of Brandebourg had presented to the king, 
the dappled grays, very noble animals from the stud of the 
Comte d'Oldenbourg, the spotted horses of Poland, and 
others with rare and beautiful skins. All were in white 
bridles adorned with red ribbons, and the ambassadors ad- 
mired not only their bearing and spirit, but even more the 
beauty of their skins. Passing then to the stalls of the saddle- 
horses of Monseigneur, the ambassadors found a large number 
of very handsome horses, both of France and of England. 
These, like the carriage-horses, wore white bridles adorned 
with red ribbons. 

" The ambassadors were taken afterward to the saddle- 
^ Pronounced Belingan. 
69 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

room of Monseigneur, which contains five large cases filled 
with saddles and harness. In the center case are lances, 
darts, bridles of silver and silver-gilt, and everything that is 
most rich in harness of this sort. The other cases contain 
housings, holsters, crupper-cloths, French saddles enriched 
with all kinds of embroidery, English saddles, and many 
very splendid housings used at the promenades with the 
ladies. Around the room stand triangular saddle-posts on 
which the saddles of Monseigneur's riding-horses are always 
ready, and above them are pegs with the bridles and the 
names of the horses to which the saddles and bridles belong. 
There is also another saddle-room for the horses of the suite. 

" The ambassadors were then taken to view the teams 
which they had not already seen, and found all the stalls 
filled with very handsome horses whose size and height sur- 
prised them. They measured some, particularly those com- 
posing the team used at the state entry of an ambassador, 
with a magnificent carriage, painted and gilded, and lined 
with crimson velvet bordered with gold. The team for this 
carriage is composed of twelve horses. They measured 
others also, and found them very large and beautiful, espe- 
cially the dappled gray horses of the body-guards. When 
they had seen all the teams, they were shown the riding- 
horses of His Majesty, all in bridles adorned with red rib- 
bons, forty-eight in number, and for the most part horses of 
France and of England. 

" The ambassadors were shown next the king's saddle- 
room, which is large and very beautiful, and contains a quan- 
tity of cases filled with splendid housings and saddles; one 
saddle especially of violet velvet embroidered with gold 
aroused their admiration. There are saddle-posts here, as 
in the saddle-room of Monseigneur, and a large number of 
bridles adorned with silver or with silver-gilt. In 
addition, they were taken to see the other saddle-rooms 

70 



The King's Stables 



which contain the trappings of the horses of the officers of 
the king. 

" They counted more than six hundred horses at the Little 
Stables. The number of carriages and caleches is in propor- 
tion, and all very rich. They are for the king, for Monsei- 
gneur, for Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne, and for their suite. 
The state carriage of His Majesty is of extraordinary mag- 
nificence, and the harness extremely rich. Among the 
caleches there is one belonging to the king with room for 
sixteen persons. 

" On the same day the ambassadors visited the Great Sta- 
bles. The grand equerry, M. le Comte de Brionne, received 
them there, accompanied by his equerries, under-equerries, 
the governors of the pages, many others officers, fifty or 
sixty foot-valets, and a very large number of people in 
livery. The ambassadors were the more surprised to see 
so many people in livery since they had already seen at the 
Little Stables a number which appeared to them infinite. 
They remarked that there were few sovereigns in Europe 
who could boast as many officials in their entire households 
as the King of France had in his stables alone. They made 
the tour of the stables and saw more than two hundred sad- 
dle-horses, decked with ribbons like those of the Little Sta- 
bles. Among them are many from the stud of the King of 
Spain, and others from Italy and Barbary, which His Maj- 
esty has for his own use in time of war. There are also one 
hundred very fine English hunters which the king keeps for 
the chase. The ambassadors were shown likewise the sad- 
dle-rooms. You can imagine them. They are the king's, and 
everything belonging to that monarch is magnificent." ^ 

Louis XIV was delighted to show his stables. On the 
nth of July, 1691, His Majesty brought the exiled King and 
Queen of England to see them, and James remarked that he 
^ Dussieux, II, pp. 156-160. 

71 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

had never seen so many beautiful English horses together. 
In 1697 the king conducted there the young Duchesse de 
Bourgogne, the Papal Nuncio, and many ambassadors; in 
1704 it was the turn of the Duke of Mantua. The riding- 
school of the Great Stables was the scene of numerous fetes, 
which will be mentioned in a chapter devoted to that subject. 
It remains now, before passing to the kennels and the hunt- 
ing-trai»> to say a word concerning the king's pages. 



THE PAGES 

The pages of the Chamber and those of the two Stables be- 
longed to the nobility. They were instructed in all the arts 
of horsemanship, in the manual of arms and in military 
manoeuvers, in dancing and in gymnastic exercises. They 
had also a governor and tutors, who taught them in mathe- 
matics, history, and geography. The duties of these pages 
were numerous. They followed the king to the army and 
were attached to his service and to those of his aides-de-camp. 
In the evening, carrying tapers of white wax or torches, they 
lighted the king's path in the palace and out of it. The 
Etat de la France (1712) furnishes the following details: 

" When the king goes to shoot, four pages of the Great 
Stables are sent to His Majesty, and they call them the four 
ordinaries. They follow the king and take charge of his 
dogs. Six pages from the Little Stables follow also. If 
any ladies go with the king, pages from the Great Stables 
accompany the ladies. The six pages of the Little Stables 
have the honor of carrying His Majesty's guns, and the game 
shot by the king is frequently distributed among them. In 
other hunts, when there are ladies mounted on horses from 
the Little Stables, a page of the Little Stables accompanies 
each lady. 

" Whenever the king drives at night in a carriage with 

72 




Equestrian Statue of Louis XIV in the Roj'al Courtyard, Versailles 



The King's Stables 



six or eight horses, as in returning from Marly to Versailles, 
four pages of the Little Stables ride in front of and beside 
the carriage, bearing torches." 

The pages ^ were picturesque figures in the life of the court. 
These young sprigs of the nobility, graceful and gallant, gor- 
geously appareled, served at all times and seasons, at the hunts, 
at the fetes, at the ceremonies, at the collations in the park,, 
everywhere. They had youth and hope and ambition; they 
knew the etiquette and the intrigues of their world, and they 
made their way. But those to whom fortune granted a 
partial realization of their dreams, who became grand sei- 
gneurs with places and pensions, and flatterers and enemies, 
and had learned in the process the vanity and inanity of the 
life, must have looked back regretfully at times to those 
happy, hopeful days of yore, when as royal pages, full of 
the joy of the present and careless of all else, they flung 
themselves upon their spirited horses and galloped away to 
the king's hunt. 

^ From the documents preserved Seine-et-Oise, an interesting mono- 
at the National Archives, and at graph could be written upon the 
the Archives of the prefecture of royal pages. 



73 



XV 

THE KENNELS AND THE HUNTING-TRAIN 

THE kennels and the stables for the equipages of 
the chase were on the Avenue de Paris behind the 
Great Stables. The hotel of the grand huntsman, 
built in 1670, and the kennels, constructed in 1685, 
were handsome and spacious buildings, but they exist no 
longer. Their destruction, however, is a matter of small mo- 
ment, for the brick and stone which housed the dogs and 
equipages are not needed to reconstruct the organization of 
the royal hunting-train. 

Since the chase held the first rank among the pleasures 
of the king, the service of the hunting-train occupied a very 
important position in His Majesty's household. At the head 
of the service was the grand huntsman of France, for many 
years M. de la Rochefoucauld, and later the Comte de Tou- 
louse. Then came the captain-general of the toils, the grand 
falconer, and the grand master of the wolf-hounds. The 
grand huntsman had under his orders 16 lieutenants, 48 
gentlemen of the hunt, many pages, more than 100 valets 
of the hounds, and many whippers-in and farriers. The lace 
on the coats of all the officers of the hunting-train was more 
or less rich, according to their rank. 

As for the chase itself, it was composed of two main 
divisions — namely, the hunting and the shooting. Under 
the first head came the chase of the stag, which held the chief 
place, and then those of the roebuck, the fallow-deer, the wild 

74 



The Kennels and the Hunting-Train 

boar, the wolf, the hare, and the fox. Under the second head 
came the shooting of small game, divided into the chase 
with the pointers, the chase with the setters, and the chase 
with the beagles. Finally there was the falconry. Each one 
of these various kinds of hunting and shooting had a service 
of its own and particular equipages. The equipages for the 
chase of the stag were at the kennels, but those for the chase 
of the wild boar were kept at the Hotel du Vautrait, in the 
Rue du Vautrait. In addition the wolf hunting-train of the 
king put up in the Rue St. Pierre, while in the Rue du Bel- 
Air was installed the wolf hunting-train of Monseigneur. 

The country all about Paris was a game preserve, and the 
king and the princes hunted in the woods of Versailles, of 
Marly, and of Meudon, in the parks of those chateaux, in 
the forests of St. Germain, of Fontainebleau, and of Vin- 
cennes, in the plain of St. Denis, in the Bois de Boulogne, at 
Choisy, at Chantilly, at Compiegne, at Rambouillet, at St. 
Leger, etc. " When they hunt in the park of Versailles," 
says the Palatine,^ " they cross neither waste lands nor 
plowed fields, but when they hunt elsewhere they pass fre- 
quently over the fields. If damage is done, the peasants ask 
for remuneration in writing. An estimate is made, and they 
pay them." 

The packs of hounds were numerous while M. de la Roche- 
foucauld was grand huntsman, but were increased later when 
the Comte de Toulouse had replaced him. The most beau- 
tiful packs were those of the king, of his sons, Monseigneur, 
the Due du Maine, and the Comte de Toulouse, of the Che- 
valier de Lorraine, of M. de Bouillon, and of the Due de 
Vendome. These packs together numbered more than a 
thousand dogs. 

As has been said, the grand huntsman of France was at 
the head of all the hunting-train. The duties of the captain- 

* Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans. 

75 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

general of the toils, of the grand master of the wolf-hounds, 
and of the grand falconer were as follows : 

The captain-general of the toils had under his orders 8 
lieutenants, 8 gentlemen of the hunt, 4 whippers-in, 6 valets 
of the hounds, 8 guards of the greyhounds, 20 archers, 16 
guards of the toils, 15 hunters and rangers, and 40 dogs. 
It was the duty of the captain-general to take in the toils 
in all the forests of France stags, deer, boars, foxes, and 
other animals to restock the parks of the royal palaces. He 
had also the general direction of the chase of the wild boar. 
The game was sometimes attacked in the inclosure of the 
toils, and the Mercure Galant gives an account of a grand 
hunt of that sort which took place at Fontainebleau on the 
30th of October, 1707: " The toils were placed in the glades 
of Bombon. In the inclosure there were a large number of 
stags, wild boars, roebucks, and foxes. The court arrived 
there. The king, the Queen of England,^ her son, Madame 
la Duchesse de Bourgogne, and Madame ^ were in the same 
carriage, and all the princesses and the ladies followed in the 
carriages and caleches of the king. A very large number 
of noblemen on horseback accompanied the carriages. Within 
the inclosure there were platforms, arranged with seats cov- 
ered with tapestry for the ladies, and many riding-horses 
for the nobles who wished to attack the game with swords 
or darts. They killed sixteen of the largest beasts, and some 
foxes. Mgr. le Due de Berry slew several. This chase gave 
much pleasure on account of the brilliancy of the spectacle, 
and the large number of nobles who surrounded the toils. 
A multitude of people had climbed into the trees, and by 
their diversity they formed an admirable background." As 
a rule, the wild boar was sought in the forest with the boar 
hunting-train. The person who killed the boar was entitled 

* The wife of James II, then in exile. 

^The Duchesse d'Orleans, wife of Monsieur. 

76 



The Kennels and the Hunting-Train 

to the head, and brought an ear to the king on the point of his 
sword, in the Persian fashion. 

The grand master of the wolf-hounds directed the chase 
of the wolf, having under his orders 2 lieutenants, 10 whip- 
pers-in, 20 valets of the hounds, 4 guards, and a stable of 
horses for the chase of the wolf. There were also under his 
orders 6 lieutenants of the wolf hunting-train in the prov- 
inces. The great wolf-hunter of the time was Monseigneur. 

As for the falconry, so much in fashion under Louis XIII, 
it was not to the taste of the Grand Monarch. He hunted 
in that way from time to time, however, occasionally on 
horseback, usually in a caleche. But though the king took 
little interest in the sport, the service was complete and splen- 
didly appointed. In 1713 the Elector of Bavaria, who de- 
lighted in that form of hunting, found the king's equipages 
for the falconry magnificent. The grand falconer had under 
his orders 8 captains, 7 lieutenants, 25 gentlemen of the fal- 
conry, 56 whippers-in, 2 valets of the spaniels, 2 guards, a 
commissary, and 2 farriers. He had control also of the birds 
used in the chase, the hawks, gerfalcons, tercelets, etc. There 
were two casts of hawks for the kite, one for the heron, one 
for the crow, one for the partridge; and in the chase of the 
heron and partridge, dogs as well as birds were used. The 
hawking-train kept 40 birds and 18 spaniels. 

Thus in an establishment so thoroughly equipped and or- 
ganized, all forms of the chase furnished the sovereign with 
a brilliant retinue, but neither the wolf-hunt nor the boar-hunt 
could vie in splendor with the flashing cortege that swept be- 
hind the King of France to chase the stag. 

After a stag-hunt the quarry was usually held by torch- 
light. At Versailles this took place, under Louis XIV, in the 
Cour des Cerfs,^ from the balcony of which the king and 

^An inner court of the palace between the state apartments of the 
king and his private apartments. 

17 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

the princes watched it. The quarry was held in the following^ 
manner : " When His Majesty had made known his intentions 
on the subject, all the huntsmen with their horns and in hunt- 
ing-dress came to the place where the quarry was to be made. 
On the arrival of the king, who was also in hunting-dress, 
the grand huntsman, who had received two wands of office, 
gave one to the king, and retained the other. The dogs were 
held under the whip about the carcass of the stag until the 
grand huntsman, having received the order from the king, 
gave the sign with his wand that they should be set at liberty. 
The horns sounded, and the huntsmen, who while the hounds 
were held under the whip had cried, * Back, dogs ! Back ! ' 
shouted now, ' Hallali, valets! Hallali! ' When the quarry 
had been made, that is to say, when the flesh had been torn 
from the bones, a valet took the forhu,^ and called the dogs, 
crying, ' Tayauf, tayaut!' and threw the forhu into the midst 
of the pack, where it was devoured at once. At this instant 
the fanfares redoubled, and finished by sounding the retreat. 
The king returned the wand to the grand huntsman, who at 
the head of all the huntsmen followed His Majesty." ^ 

Louis XIV made many fine roads about Marly, Versailles, 
St. Germain, and Fontainebleau in order that he might hunt 
the stag more easily. These were the only roads in France 
which were kept in good repair. 

^ The belly of the stag, washed and placed on the end of a forked sticks 
*Dussieux, II, pp. 182-183. 



78 



II 

THE PARK 



M 



THE GARDENS 

ORE than two centuries have passed since the 
gardens of Versailles, in all their splendor, as- 
tonished the Doge of Genoa and the ambassa- 
dors of Siam. They are still magnificent, but 
many features have been destroyed or changed or modified 
since the days of Louis XIV. The first design of the gardens 
was not that of Le Notre, but the plan of Lemercier and of 
Boyceau, many of whose ideas were preserved and enlarged 
and rendered more beautiful by Louis XIV. But though all 
was not the work of Le Notre, the personality of that genius, 
nevertheless, dominated all throughout its length and breadth, 
as he has dominated French gardening ever since, and the 
gardens may be referred to rightly as his creation. The man 
himself merits a word. 

Andre Le Notre first attracted the king's attention at Fou- 
quet's Chateau of Vaux, where he had designed a garden 
whose beauty and novelty stamped its creator as a man of 
talent and a master of his art. After the fall of Fouquet, 
Louis took Le Notre into his service and intrusted to him the 
gardens of Versailles. With insight and imagination of the 
first order, with boundless enthusiasm for his art, Le Notre 
took up the task in which he was to prove himself the great- 
est landscape-architect of his time, perhaps of all time. Pos- 
sessing in a preeminent degree the " sense of the beautiful 
in space " and the " sense of elegance in majesty and regu- 

' 8i 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

larity," he saw, as in a vision, what no other man had seen, 
the gardens of the new Versailles, the gardens of a Sun 
King, whom all the Arts united to celebrate; and when 
he had drawn his plans, he brought the Grand Monarch 
to the terrace, that Louis, too, might see. All was to be 
created; all existed only in the mind of the great gardener 
and on the papers which he held in his hand. Saint- Yenne 
relates the scene: 

" When Le Notre had traced out his ideas, he brought 
Louis XIV to the spot to judge the distribution of the prin- 
cipal parts and their ornamentation. He began with the two 
grand basins which are on the terrace in front of the chateau, 
with their magnificent decorations. He explained next his 
idea of the double flight of stairs, which is opposite the cen- 
ter of the palace, adorned with yew-trees and with statues, 
and gave in detail all the pieces that were to enrich the space 
which it included. He passed then to the Allee du Tapis Vert, 
and to that grand place where we see the head of the canal, 
of which he described the size and shape, and at the extrem- 
ities of whose arms he placed Trianon and the Menagerie. 
At each of the grand pieces whose position Le Notre marked, 
and whose future beauties he described, Louis XIV inter- 
rupted him, saying, ' Le Notre, I give you twenty thousand 
francs.' This magnificent approbation was so frequently re- 
peated that it annoyed Le Notre, whose soul was as noble and 
disinterested as that of his master was generous. At the 
fourth interruption he stopped, and said brusquely to the 
king, ' Sire, Your Majesty shall hear no more. I should ruin 
you.' " 1 

Does not that anecdote display two of Le Notre's most 
prominent characteristics, love of his art for the art's sake, and 
simple frankness ? As he was at the beginning of his career, 
so he remained to the end, modest, frank, honest, and de- 

^ L'Ombre du Grand Colbert, 1752, after Dussieux, II, p. 198. 
82 




ofBravi,. CUmtntf Co. 



Andre Le Notre 



The Gardens 



voted to his art. The king, who loved his talent, and even 
more the character of the man himself, ennobled him and 
gave him the order of St. Michel. In addition to his great 
work at Versailles he designed the gardens of Trianon, of 
Marly, of St. Cloud, of Clagny, of Chantilly, of Meudon, of 
St. Germain, of the Tuileries, etc. His world courted him 
and made much of him ; he passed from triumph to triumph, 
but remained unspoiled. " He was," says Saint-Simon, " of 
a charming simplicity and truthfulness. ... A month before 
Le Notre's death, the king, who liked to see him and to make 
him talk, led him into the gardens of Marly, and, on account 
of his great age, placed him in a wheeled chair by the side of 
his own. Upon this Le Notre said, ' Ah, my poor father, if 
you were living and could see a simple gardener like me, 
your son, wheeled along in a chair by the side of the greatest 
king in the world, nothing would be wanting to my joy ! '" i 
Le Notre had a beautiful apartment at the Grand Commun 
and a lodging at the Tuileries. He died in 1700, at the age 
of eighty-seven, retaining all his faculties and his good taste 
to the last.^ But the man was greater than his work. Here 
is his epitaph. " Le Notre," says Saint-Simon, " was es- 
teemed and loved by everybody." To have that true in a 
court like that of the Grand Monarch, to have it written by 
one of the proudest and most sarcastic of French noblemen, 
was not that a marvel, surpassing the creation of the gardens 
of Versailles ? 

It was easier to erect the Chateau of Versailles than to lay 
out the gardens. The difficulties attending the construction 
of the latter were very great, and, aside from the large 
number of men and horses required to make the excava- 
tions and to rear the vast terraces, the chief obstacles to be 

^ Saint-Simon, I, p. 169. troller-general of the king's build- 

'Le Notre died in September, ings and gardens by his nephew, 
1700, and was succeeded as con- Desgots. 



83 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

surmounted were the lack of large trees and the scarcity of 
water. 

In the time of Louis XIII there were but two ornamental 
groves in the garden, the bosquet du Dauphin and the bosquet 
de la Girandole; the rest was wooded, with walks cut here 
and there. To carry out the plans of Le Notre it was neces- 
sary to destroy the trees in the vicinity of the chateau, and 
in the replanting of the gardens the king was not content 
to have young trees. At certain points he wished to obtain 
an immediate result, and not to wait for years. Thus, very 
frequently, especially in 1680, they transplanted large trees, 
bringing them from Compiegne, from Flanders, from the 
mountains of Dauphine, and from the forests of Normandy. 
In 1688 they purchased in Artois, for the sum of 16,949 
livres, twenty-five thousand trees, which, in spite of the dif- 
ficulties of transportation over bad roads, were brought in 
wagons; many perished, but they were replaced at once by 
others. The director of the planting of the trees in the park 
and avenues of Versailles was the Sieur Ballon. 

But the question of the water-supply was the most serious 
problem to be solved in connection with the gardens. The 
director of the waters, or commander of the fountains, to 
give him the title then in use, was Pierre de Francine. He 
and his assistant Denis placed the conduits for the water to 
supply the basins, the bosquets, the cascades, and the jets. In 
that particular the resources of Versailles were limited, and 
as the king constantly changed his fountains and increased 
their number, the work of Francine was soon found insuffi- 
cient. Louis XIV and Colbert then sought other means to 
obtain the necessary volume of water. Riquet had a plan 
to bring the waters of the Loire to Versailles, but, on exam- 
ination, the project was found to be impossible. Another 
scheme, which unfortunately was adopted, was that of Vau- 
ban and Lahire to bring the waters of the Eure, " At the 

84 



The Gardens 



lever of the king," says Dangeau, under date of October 19, 
1684, " they talked much of the river Eure, which the king 
wishes to bring to Versailles." Thirty thousand soldiers 
were employed on the works at the Eure, and in July, 1686, 
the king reviewed twenty-two battalions that were engaged 
there, A canal was dug and a large aqueduct reared, but the 
war of 1688 and the state of the finances stopped the enter- 
prise. This work, which proved useless in the end, cost the 
lives of several thousand soldiers, who caught contagion 
from the upturned earth, and nearly forty millions of francs. 
But even before the project for the Eure failed, water was 
being sought in other directions. The machine of Marly was 
constructed from 1681 to 1687, and about the same time 
Picard and Romer had in operation a vast system of trenches 
and aqueducts to drain the plateau of Satory of the water 
which collected there from rain and from melting snow. 
This water was drained into six ponds, those of St. Hubert, 
Mesnil-St. Denis, Trou-Sale, Martiniere, Saclay, and St. 
Quentin, from which it was brought to the reservoirs of 
Montbauron and of Gobert, and from there, by means of 
conduits, to Versailles; to the park, for the fountains, and 
to the town, for the needs of the inhabitants. These great 
works were very costly, but they were successful. The water 
they furnished was better and more healthful than that sup- 
plied by the machine of Marly; and even to-day, after more 
than two centuries, the works are still in use and are kept 
in good repair. 

At the present time there are 607 jets of water in the gar- 
dens, but under Louis XIV there were 1400. " Nothing is 
more surprising," says La Martiniere, " than the immense 
quantity of water thrown up by the fountains when they all 
play together at the promenades of the king. These jets are 
capable of using up a river." In fact, so much water was 
needed for all the fountains to play at the same time that this 

85 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

took place only at great fetes, or when some ambassador or 
foreigner of the first rank visited the chateau. As a rule, in 
the summer and on the days when the king was at Versailles, 
only the fountains on the terrace, and those which could be 
seen from the windows of the chateau, played from ten 
o'clock in the morning until eight in the evening. 

Under the direction of Lebrun and Mignard, ninety-five 
sculptors worked on the statues and on the other decorations 
of the gardens, and in addition to the works of the French 
artists the king ordered from Italy a very large number of 
statues, antiques or copies from the antique. The taste of the 
age turned to the mythology of Greece and Rome, and the 
gardens of Versailles became a new Olympus. 

When the gardens were finished, the king opened them to 
the public, who were allowed to promenade there freely, but 
in a short time it was found necessary to abandon this plan. 
The crowd injured many of the vases and statues, and His 
Majesty in his walks was surrounded and annoyed by a mul- 
titude of people who came from all directions, above all from 
Paris. Therefore the guards received orders to close the 
gates and admit only the personages of the court and those 
who accompanied them. 



86 



II 



THE TERRACE, THE FOUNTAINS AND 
BOSQUETS 

SAINT-SIMON was very unjust in his description 
of Versailles : " The gardens astonish by their mag- 
nificence, but cause regret by their bad taste. You 
are introduced to the freshness of the shade only by 
a vast torrid zone, at the end of which there is nothing for you 
but to mount or descend, and with the hill, which is very short, 
terminate the gardens." ^ That is all he can find to say of 
a spot where Le Notre surpassed himself, and where the 
Grand Monarch spent so many millions. If Versailles had 
shared the fate of Marly it would be more difificult to disprove 
Saint-Simon's statement, but to-day the gardens themselves 
are the best answer to his absurdity. 

THE TERRACE 

The vast terrace in front of the chateau is ornamented with 
two large basins, whose marble borders support splendid 
bronze groups, representing various rivers of France. De- 
signed by Regnaudin, Tuby, Coyzevox, and Lehongre, they 
were cast by Keller, and are among the finest works of art 
at Versailles. The groups of children which adorn the basins 
are also beautiful. In the light of the setting sun, when the 
green of their rust is gilded, all these bronzes are superb. 
In addition to the basins, the terrace has two fountains, that 
^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 369. 

87 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

at the first glance might escape notice in the multitude of 
objects which are seen on all sides. These fountains, the 
cabinets of Diana and of Pont du Jour, stand to the right 
and left of the great staircase that leads to the parterre of 
Latona. They are cabinets of verdure in the Italian style, 
containing square basins of red-and-white marble, decorated 
with bronze groups of animals which were cast by Keller 
in 1687. Beside each cabinet are three marble statues, and 
of these the most beautiful is the " Diana " of Desjardins. 
Holding her bow aloft, the goddess of the chase advances, 
full of life and grace and joy, a triumphant deity, demanding 
adoration, one of the most charming figures in the Olympus 
at Versailles. 

Advance to the great staircase, and the gardens in all their 
beauty appear before you, stretching to the west. In the fore- 
ground is the vast and splendid parterre of Latona, with its 
fountains, its flowers, and its statues; beyond it the Royal 
AUee, with its closely cut green carpet, and its long lines of 
silent statues, banked by the heavy foliage of the adjoining 
groves, slopes gently to the great basin in the distance where 
Apollo sits enthroned in his chariot; behind Apollo lie the 
placid waters of the grand canal. 



THE PARTERRE OF LATONA 

This parterre contains three fountains. The principal one,, 
the fountain of Latona, existed in the time of Louis XIII, 
though not in its present form. Latona, having at her feet 
her children, Apollo and Diana, implores Jupiter to punish 
the peasants who have insulted her, and the god changes 
them to frogs. These gilded frogs throw more than fifty 
jets of water which cross above and beside the figure of 
Latona, producing a beautiful effect. All the sculptures of 
this fountain are the work of the brothers Marsy. The twa 



The Terrace, the Fountains and Bosquets 

smaller fountains, called the basins of the Lizards, also the 
work of Marsy, are decorated with figures in gilded lead, 
and placed in ornamental grass-plots, bordered by beds of 
flowers. 

Passing down the allee of Latona, we come at the end of 
the parterre to the large half-moon which precedes the Royal 
Allee or Tapis Vert. The Grand Monarch had written an 
itinerary^ which the officers of his Household followed in 
conducting visitors through the gardens, and at this point 
the king's guests were stopped that they might admire the 
view. Therefore let us pause for a moment at the royal 
view-point, for though much has been changed in other parts, 
we still see to-day from this spot the gardens as Louis him- 
self saw them. To the east, beyond the brilliant parterre 
of Latona, with its fountains, its flowers, and its orange- 
trees, rise the vine-covered walls of the terraces, with their 
spacious flights of steps and their vividly green clipped yews. 
Above the great staircase appears the stately fagade of the 
chateau. Time has turned the stone to a soft yellow color 
with which the green yews on the terrace harmonize admi- 
rably. The trophies and vases, which were removed from 
the balustrade of the roof under the Empire, have been re- 
placed as they were in the reign of Louis XIV. Turn to the 
west and survey the Royal Allee, the basin of Apollo, and the 
grand canal, or look to the north to the allee of Ceres, or 
to the south to that of Bacchus, and you realize the harmony 
that existed between Mansart and Le Notre in the decoration 
of the chateau and in the plan of the gardens. 

THE GRAND CANAL 

The grand canal, the main body of which has a length of 
something over three quarters of a mile, is constructed in the 

"■ This itinerary has been published by M. Arthur Mangin in his 
Jardins, 1867. 

89 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

form of a cross. Trianon is at the extremity of the north 
arm, and at the extremity of the south arm the Menagerie 
stood in the time of Louis XIV. Work was begun in 1667, 
but the canal was not completed until 1680. It was intended 
not merely as an ornamental sheet of water to prolong the 
view from the windows of the chateau, but to play a part in 
the fetes of the court. The king kept on it carved and gilded 
boats and galleys, decked with red-and-white streamers and 
hangings fringed with gold. Not content with them, how- 
ever, His Majesty ordered a ship of war for the canal. This 
ship carried thirty-two small guns, carved by Marsy at a 
cost of 20,000 livres, and the king, going on board for the 
first time in June, 1686, sailed peacefully to Trianon. In 
addition there were the gilded gondolas, the first of which 
the Republic of Venice had presented to Louis XIV in 1679. 
The king bought others, and secured the services of fourteen 
Venetian gondoliers,^ who were dressed in crimson and 
lodged at the head of the canal, in the buildings which are still 
called " Little Venice." Three companies of bargemen, com- 
manded by the Chevalier Paulin, were attached to the service 
of the boats on the canal, some two hundred and sixty men in 
all, and of these sixty were always ready at a moment's no- 
tice whenever the king or the courtiers wished to embark. 
Such embarkations were frequent in the summer. The king 
more than once took supper on his ship, and the Duchesse de 
Bourgogne often remained in her gondola listening to music 
from two o'clock in the morning until dawn. 

The grand canal lies outside the gardens, in the park which 
includes Trianon and the Menagerie and much wooded land 
besides. As for the gardens proper, they are divided by the 
great terrace, the parterre of Latona, the Royal Allee, and 
the basin of Apollo, into two chief parts, that of the north 
and that of the south, each containing many fountains and 
* They were sent back to Venice by the regent in 1717. 
90 



The Terrace, the Fountains and Bosquets 

bosquets. Let us take first the garden of the north, in which 
are the parterre du Nord, the Allee d'Eau, the bosquets of 
the Arch of Triumph and of the Three Fountains, the basin 
of the Dragon, the basin of Neptune, the basins of Ceres and 
of Flora, the bosquets of the Star, of the ObeHsk, of the 
Dauphin, of the Domes, and of the Giant. 



THE PARTERRE DU NORD 

In this parterre, which lies beneath the windows of the north 
wing of the chateau, one misses Le Notre's hand. It was 
designed by Claude Perrault in 1664, and in spite of its 
vases and flowers, and its two handsome basins of the 
Crowns, it is dull and heavy, almost lugubrious. For some 
reason the sun seems to shine less brightly here than else- 
where at Versailles. Through it the courtiers passed con- 
tinually to reach other points, but it is doubtful if they lin- 
gered. The fountains at the end of the central allee — namely, 
the Pyramid and the Cascade — are the most inartistic in the 
gardens, especially the Pyramid. Though its lead Tritons, 
which were designed by Perrault, were formerly gilded, it 
could not even then have been a thing of beauty. The won- 
der is that the Grand Monarch, who was continually chang- 
ing his gardens, preserved this ugly fountain in the midst 
of his magnificence. The Cascade is not much better, al- 
though it is decorated with a bas-relief by Girardon, repre- 
senting Diana and her Nymphs, which has some merit. But 
the parterre du Nord is, after all, only a fraction of the 
great plan, and though some of its details leave much to be 
desired, it does not mar the harmony of the whole. 

From the parterre du Nord three allees lead down to the 
great basin of Neptune. The central allee, called the Allee 
d'Eau, which separates the bosquet of the Arch of Triumph 
from that of the Three Fountains, takes its name from the 

91 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

fact that it is adorned with twenty-two small fountains, 
placed in two lines, each composed of a group of bronze 
children who support a marble basin. These bronze groups, 
the work of Duval and of Langlois, show great variety in 
design and ornamentation, and yet the effect of the whole is 
disappointing, except when the waters play. In the time 
of Louis XIV there were yew-trees in vases of gilded copper 
between all the fountains, and such a combination of green 
and gold would make the allee much more attractive than 
it is at present. The tall trees and heavy foliage in the groves 
of the Arch of Triumph and of the Three Fountains form 
now the chief charm. At the foot of the Allee d'Eau is the 
basin of the Dragon, which is handsome and of good size,, 
but appears as nothing in contrast to the huge basin of Nep- 
tune that lies behind it. 

THE BASIN OF NEPTUNE 

Here again is the hand of Le Notre. The basin of Neptune,, 
called at first the Grand Cascades, was constructed from i679> 
to 1684, in accordance with his designs. This immense 
basin, surrounded on the side toward the chateau by a hand- 
come wall of stone, and on the other by an amphitheater of 
turf and trees, a vast half-circle, in the center of which stands 
a marble statue of Renown, is simple in conception and im- 
posing from its size. The richly carved lead vases which 
adorn the wall were gilded under the Grand Monarch, and 
each throws a jet of water to a great height. Dangeau tells 
us that His Majesty saw the waters play here for the first 
time on the 17th of May, 1685, ^^id that he was quite con- 
tent. However, Neptune had not then appeared in the 
basin which now bears his name; for the large groups of 
Neptune, the Ocean, and the Tritons, which ornament the- 
base of the wall at present, were not put in place until 1739,. 

92 



The Terrace, the Fountains and Bosquets 

in the reign "of Louis XV. This majestic basin at the foot 
of the AUee d'Eau is a striking contrast to Perrault's ugly- 
Pyramid at the head of it. Le Notre knew what was fitting 
for the gardens of a Sun King. 

THE BOSQUETS OF THE ARCH OF TRIUMPH AND OF 
THE THREE FOUNTAINS 

These bosquets are now ghosts of what they were and wrecks 
of the old Versailles. They stand on either side of the Allee 
d'Eau, the Arch of Triumph being between the allee and 
the palace. The gates of the Three Fountains are closed to 
the public, but there is little to see, for it is simply a thick 
grove of fine trees, with hedges and traces of the former 
basins. In Louis's day it contained a charming allee with 
an immense number of small jets of water, leaping from 
basins at the sides and forming an arch of water overhead, 
beneath which one could walk without being wet. The Arch 
of Triumph, however, was one of the marvels of the old 
gardens. This bosquet is open to the public, but nothing re- 
mains of its original decoration save the fountain of France 
at the entrance. France sits triumphant in her car, with 
Spain and Germany at her chariot-wheels, for this fountain, 
which was the work of Tuby and Coyzevox, has been care- 
fully restored. The fountain of the Arch of Triumph, which 
gave the grove its name, and the fountains of Victory and 
Glory, that stood on either side, have disappeared long ago. 
They were restored in 1732, but in 1787 they were again in 
a bad way, and in 1801 they were destroyed. The fountain 
of Victory was at the right of the bosquet as one ascended 
toward the Arch of Triumph. Above a wealth of sculpture. 
Victory, trumpet in hand, stood on a globe ornamented with 
three fleurs-de-lis. This fountain was the work of Mazeline. 
Opposite to it was the fountain of Glory, designed by Lebrun 
and executed by Coyzevox. The Arch of Triumph, which 

93 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

filled the end of the bosquet, was placed on an'estrade with 
marble steps, and was preceded by four lofty obelisks of 
gilded iron in which the water leaped and fell in sheets of 
crystal. The fountain itself was composed of three porticos 
of gilded iron, with large jets in the center of each, while 
seven jets leaped up from the basins above the porticos, and 
all the waters rushed down over the steps of marble. In 
addition twenty-two vases at the sides of the bosquet threw 
jets into the air. "Without having seen it," says Blonde!, 
" it is impossible to imagine the wonderful effect produced 
by this decoration." ^ We may well believe him. All this 
has vanished, and to-day triumphant France gazes at nothing, 
or next to nothing, a marble boar on a pedestal and a mass 
of foliage. 

To give an account in detail of all the fountains and bos- 
quets in the gardens of Versailles and of the many changes 
made in them by Louis XIV, or of those made by others 
since his day, would extend this chapter far beyond its proper 
limits. Words, too, convey no impression of the size and 
beauty of the gardens, of long vistas, of leaping waters seen 
afar, of sunlight glinting through the high green vaults of 
stately allees, of regiments of marble statues silent and sen- 
tinel-like, of birds singing in quiet bosquets where a courtier 
could well fancy himself a hundred miles from court. There- 
fore let us glance only at the Baths of Apollo before passing 
to the south side of the great terrace to close this sketch of 
the gardens with a brief account of the parterre du Midi, 
the Salle de Bal, and the Colonnade. 

THE BATHS OF APOLLO 

This grove is next to the parterre of Latona on the north 
side. It was called at first the Marais, and was constructed 

^Dussieux, H, p. 239. 

94 




The Basin of Neptune and the Bosquets of the Arch of Triumph 
and of the Three Fountains in the time of Louis XIV 



The Terrace, the Fountains and Bosquets 

from 1670 to 1676, in accordance with the plans of Madame 
de Montespan. While the favor of the marquise lasted, 
people spoke of the Marais as one of the marvels of the gar- 
dens, but it was undoubtedly considered less wonderful after 
her fall. In the center stood a large oak surrounded by an 
artificial marsh, bordered with reeds and grasses, and contain- 
ing plants and a number of white swans. From the swans, 
from the reeds and grasses, and from the leaves and branches 
of the oak, thousands of little jets of water leaped forth, 
falling like fine rain upon the masses of natural vegetation 
that flourished amid the artificial. At the sides of the bos- 
quet there were two tables of marble, on which a collation 
was served when the marquise came to her grove to see the 
waters play. In 1704 the king ordered Mansart to destroy 
the Marais and transform the bosquet into the Baths of 
Apollo. 

The new bosquet contained the famous groups of sculpture 
of Apollo and the horses of the Sun, which had figured first 
at Versailles in the splendid Grotto of Thetis. That grotto 
once stood on the site of the vestibule of the present chapel, 
but had been destroyed in 1686, when Mansart built the north 
wing of the chateau. The groups were then transported to 
the further side of the gardens and placed in the bosquet of 
Renown, near the basin of Apollo, where they remained until 
1704, when the Baths of Apollo replaced the Marais. In the 
new bosquet they were placed under canopies of gilded lead 
to protect them from rain and snow. The principal group, 
representing Apollo and the Nymphs, is the work of Girar- 
don, and is very beautiful. The two smaller groups of the 
horses of the Sun and the Tritons were executed by Marsy 
and Guerin. 

In 1778 the Baths of Apollo underwent an entire alteration 
at the hands of Hubert Robert, being remade in accordance 
with the taste of the day. The principal group was then 

95 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

placed in the grotto adorned with columns, in which it now 
stands, and which was intended to represent the palace of 
Thetis. As far as one can judge from the pictures of Co- 
telle and of Silvestre, the arrangement of the groups in the 
time of Louis XIV was less artistic than the later design of 
Robert. As a rule, the changes made in the gardens of the 
Grand Monarch by his successors were for the worse, but 
this bosquet seems to have been an exception. 

THE PARTERRE DU MIDI 

To the south of the great terrace, under the windows of the 
state apartments of the queen, lies the parterre du Midi. 
This flower-garden is above the Orangery, and though its 
basins are more simple than those of the parterre du Nord, 
it is much more attractive than the latter. At either side of 
the short flight of steps leading from the terrace to the garden 
rests a marble sphinx, bearing on its back a Cupid in bronze. 
These charming bronzes are the work of Lerambert. The 
parterre du Midi gains much from its elevated position 
above the Orangery, commanding on one side a wooded 
landscape and the Swiss Lake beyond the road to St. Cyr, 
and on the other the best view of the long fagade of the 
chateau. The western terrace on the side toward the gar- 
dens contains those steps of rose-colored marble which in- 
spired Alfred de Musset to write his beautiful verses on Ver- 
sailles. 

In the gardens which lie to the south of the parterre of 
Latona and the Royal Allee are the bosquet of the Queen 
(called formerly the Labyrinth), the basins of Bacchus and 
Saturn, the Salle de Bal, the Salle des Marronniers, the 
bosquet of the Girandole, the Colonnade, the Mirror, and 
the garden of the King (called once the lie Royale). Of 
these only the Salle de Bal and the Colonnade will be de- 
scribed here. 

96 



The Terrace, the Fountains and Bosquets 



THE SALLE DE BAL 

This bosquet occupies on the south of the parterre of Latona 
a position corresponding to that of the Baths of Apollo on 
the north. At one end is a cascade of rocks, over which the 
waters fall with a pleasant murmur, glittering by torchlight ; 
above it was the orchestra, while the sides of the bosquet 
facing the cascade are arranged in the form of an amphi- 
theater, with terraces of turf on which the courtiers sat 
when the king gave a dance in the Salle de Bal. On all 
sides were vases and cressets of gilded lead, some of which 
still remain. Under date of the 7th of May, 1685, Dangeau 
tells us that " Monseigneur, on returning from a wolf-hunt, 
gave in the Salle de Bal a grand supper to those who had 
followed him to the chase. The repast was very gay. On 
leaving the table Monseigneur went to promenade, and then 
he embarked on the canal." ^ On the 12th of June, 1691, 
after a promenade in the Orangery, Louis XIV gave to the 
King and Queen of England, to the Due and Duchesse d'Or- 
leans, to the princesses, and to the ladies of their suite, a 
magnificent collation in the Salle de Bal, at the close of which 
they went to visit many of the fountains.^ 

THE COLONNADE 

The Colonnade, which was constructed from 1685 to 1688, 
is situated near the basin of Apollo, to the south of the Royal 
Allee. It is circular in form, and consists of thirty-two mar- 
ble columns which support a balustrade adorned with vases. 
Between the columns are twenty-eight marble basins, each 
of which throws up a jet of water. Five steps of marble 
surround the circle in the center, which contains Girardon's 
beautiful group of Pluto and Proserpine, now much injured 

^Dangeau. ''Dussieux, H, p. 261. 

' 97 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

by time and weather. The Colonnade, Hke the majority of 
the bosquets in the gardens, served for collations during the 
promenades of the court. On the i6th of May, 1691, Mon- 
seigneur and the princesses came to sup in the Colonnade, 
which was brilliantly illuminated. This " morsel of archi- 
tecture," as Saint-Simon called it, was the work of Mansart, 
and in this connection Saint-Simon gives a characteristic 
anecdote of Le Notre. Pope Clement X had begged Louis 
to lend him Le Notre for some months that he might improve 
the gardens of the Vatican. " Upon Le Notre's return," 
says Saint-Simon, "the king led him into the gardens of 
Versailles, and showed him what had been done in his ab- 
sence. About the Colonnade he said nothing. The king 
pressed him to give his opinion thereupon. * Why, Sire,' 
said Le Notre, ' what can I say? Of a mason you have made 
a gardener, and he has given you a sample of his trade.' 
The king kept silence, and everybody laughed; and it was 
true that this morsel of architecture, which was anything 
but a fountain and yet was intended to be one, was much out 
of place in a garden." ^ Le Notre was slightly jealous of 
Mansart, and the Due de Saint-Simon was fond of belittling 
all that the king did. The Colonnade still remains, and 
people can judge of it for themselves. It does not seem out 
of place in the gardens, but at present it is closed to the 
public, and can be viewed only through the iron gates. 
^ Saint-Simon, I, p. 169. 



98 



Ill 

THE ORANGERY 

THE Orangery was constructed by Mansart from 
1684 to 1686, though, if we may believe Saint- 
Yenne, it was Le Notre who furnished the plans. 
" Louis XIV, not being satisfied with the ideas of 
his architects for this building, asked Le Notre many times 
to work at it. Le Notre excused himself always on the 
ground that his talent was for gardening and not for build- 
ing. But the king having pressed him anew to think of it, 
an idea came to him one night, and he rose and traced out 
his design. In the morning he showed it to His Majesty, 
who was so well pleased that he called Mansart and ordered 
him to perfect Le Notre's plan and execute it." ^ 

This large building, which supports the parterre du Midi, 
contains three long galleries, lighted by twelve windows. 
At the two ends were statues of Hercules and Mercury, and 
in the center a colossal marble statue of Louis XIV, clad as 
a Roman, a gift to the king from the Marechal de la Feuil- 
lade. The principal entrance is the Porte Royale, opposite 
the allee of Bacchus, by which visitors who had obtained 
permission to walk among the orange-trees entered. Two 
royal staircases, called the Cent-Marches (although the num- 
ber of steps in each is one hundred and three), descend from 
the parterre du Midi to the road to St. Cyr. Between them 
lies the parterre of the Orangery, with its round marble 

* Saint- Yenne, p. 59, after Dussieux, II, p. 242. 

99 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

basin and ornamental turf; in the summer season this par- 
terre is filled with orange-trees of various sizes. Under the 
Grand Monarch there were some 3000 orange-trees in the 
Orangery, but at present there are about 1800. 

The king was very fond of orange-trees; he loved their 
brilliant verdure, their perfume, their flowers, and their 
fruit. They lined the allees and groves of his gardens ; they 
stood in tubs of silver in his Galerie des Glaces and in his 
state apartments ; they decorated all his fetes. His gardeners 
had discovered a means of keeping a certain number of them 
in bloom the year round, and these were taken to the chateau, 
and were replaced by others at intervals of fifteen days; so 
that in His Majesty's apartments the trees were always in 
full bloom. For his Orangery at Versailles the king pur- 
chased orange-trees wherever he could get them. He ob- 
tained them in St. Domingo and in Flanders; he paid the 
Duchesse de la Ferte 2200 livres for twenty; he brought 
them from the orangery at Fontainebleau. 

Among the trees taken from the latter place was the Grand- 
Bourbon. According to tradition, this famous orange-tree 
had been planted in 1421 by a Princess of Navarre, and, after 
several changes of owners, came into the possession of Fran- 
cois I, by whom it was placed at Fontainebleau. When it 
reached Versailles the king came to visit it, and two Grand 
Bourbons were then face to face. The man passed, and even 
his bones, torn from their tomb at St. Denis and tossed into 
a trench, have perished; not a pinch of his dust remains. 
But the tree lives and blooms and bears fruit* — the only 
Bourbon at Versailles — serene, invincible, enthroned! 

^The Grand-Bourbon is still the times with more than two hundred 
greenest and most beautiful tree of fruits. Dussieux, II, p. 244. 
the collection, and is charged at 



100 



IV 
THE KITCHEN-GARDEN 

THE King's Kitchen-Garden, on the east side of the 
Swiss Lake, consisted of a large square, divided 
into sixteen compartments, which were separated 
by allees bordered by fruit-walls. In the center 
was a circular basin, and on the four sides were wide ter- 
races, containing thirty-one small gardens. From each ter- 
race a flight of steps descended to the central square. This 
garden was planted from 1679 to 1682, and at the head of it 
was the famous La Quintinie, who, like Le Notre, had passed 
from the service of Fouquet to that of the Grand Monarch. 
His post brought him 2000 livres, as Director of the Kitchen- 
Gardens of the King, and in addition he received 4000 livres 
gratuity. 

La Quintinie had talent, and made the royal Kitchen-Gar- 
den a model for gardeners to imitate throughout Europe. 
His reputation at court was established by his remarkable 
skill in the cultivation of early fruits and vegetables. He 
gave the king asparagus and fresh sorrel in December; rad- 
ishes, lettuce, and mushrooms in January; cauliflower in 
March; strawberries and peas in April; figs and melons in 
June. He excelled, too, in peaches; for when he found that 
the gardeners of Montreuil produced better peaches than he 
had done hitherto at Versailles, he persuaded one of them, 
Nicolas Pepin, to come and work in the Kitchen-Garden, 
and from this man he learned the secrets of Montreuil. The 

lOI 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

king was fond of talking with his gardener, who had much 
knowledge, and when La Quintinie died in 1688, Louis, with 
that tact which never failed him, addressed the widow as 
follows: " Madame, you and I have suffered a loss that we 
can never repair." 

The fruit-walls of the Kitchen-Garden furnished His Maj- 
esty with peaches, cherries, plums, apricots, pears, and 
grapes, but figs were cultivated more extensively than these, 
for they were the king's favorite fruit. All the products of 
the Kitchen-Garden, however, were not for the royal table. 
A part was set aside for the public, and in the Rue du Potager 
there was a small building called Le Public, in which several 
people were employed in distributing fruits and vegetables 
to those who came to ask for them. 

While La Quintinie lived, the king went frequently to 
walk in his Kitchen-Garden,^ and Dangeau tells us that on 
such occasions His Majesty usually permitted those who ac- 
companied him to pluck and eat the fruit. All strangers 
of distinction who came to Versailles visited the garden of 
La Quintinie; among others the Doge of Genoa in May, 
1685, and the ambassadors of Siam in October, 1686. 

^ At the present time the Kitchen-Garden has been transformed into 
a School of Horticulture and is kept up by the state. 



102 



THE MENAGERIE 

THE Menagerie, of which now only a few ruins 
remain, was located at the extremity of the south- 
ern arm of the grand canal. As early as 1663 
the king had begun to build there, and to transform 
the small hunting-pavilion, erected by his father, into some- 
thing more pretentious. But without enumerating the vari- 
ous changes which the Menagerie underwent during a period 
of more than twenty-five years, let us pass at once to what 
it was at its best. 

From the principal entrance, placed at the end of the road 
extending through the park from the basin of Apollo, a long 
avenue, lined by trees and walls inclosing gardens, led to the 
gates of the courtyard of the chateau; to the right of the 
gates was a chapel. The small chateau consisted of two 
pavilions, projecting beyond a central portion which was 
almost square, and had behind it a short gallery leading to 
a large octagonal salon, so that the form of the whole cha- 
teau was very much that of the letter J. reversed. In the 
center of the building a handsome staircase led to the apart- 
ments on the first floor, five on either side of the landing. 
In summer the Duchesse de Bourgogne used the apartments 
on the right, and in winter those on the left. The rooms 
on the ground floor were for servants and guards. The 
octagonal salon at the end of the gallery was surmounted 
by a dome and lighted by seven large windows, looking on 

103 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

all sides on the courts of the animals. In this apartment the 
king often dined when he came to walk at the Menagerie. 
All the apartments were decorated with much taste. The 
chimneypieces were made of the rarest marbles and orna- 
mented with bronzes and gilded mirrors ; the salon was hung 
with pictures of flowers and animals painted by Desportes; 
Audran had adorned the ceilings; Dugoulon had carved the 
woodwork. There was no bedchamber, for the chateau was 
intended simply as a house in which to give a collation or a 
supper. A balcony with a beautiful railing of gilded iron 
surrounded the salon, on a level with the windows of the 
first floor, and from it one could see with ease the animals 
in their respective courts. 

These courts were arranged as follows : On the right of the 
chateau came first the garden of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, 
at the end of which were two handsome pavilions, and be- 
tween them the dairy; then followed in order the aviary and 
its court, the court of the pelicans, the court of the deer, 
the court of the ostriches, the court of the bear-pits. Be- 
hind these symmetrical courts, which faced the windows of 
the octagonal salon, were a number of other buildings and 
courts, containing a lion and other wild beasts, an extensive 
pigeon-house, a large court for chickens and turkeys, and a 
farm for cows and horses. The aviary was the finest in 
France; the pigeon-house held more than three thousand 
pigeons; and in the Menagerie there were swans, ostriches, 
pelicans, peacocks, herons, Egyptian ducks, rare birds of 
every sort, wolves, foxes, deer, gazelles, cows from Flanders 
and Holland, horses, lions, and an elephant. 

The young Duchesse de Bourgogne loved the little chateau 
of the Menagerie, where she amused herself and as far as 
possible left the etiquette of the court behind her at the gates. 
In 1698 the king gave her the Menagerie, and had the cha- 
teau refurnished and redecorated in accordance with her 

104 



Plan II 



J.VVIJ1 ^iL.niK.;-i'-.'.i:>Mj,j.'a-jj'jT - 




TemceofthcChalMU 
Parterre d Kau 
Cab et of Diana 
Cabinet of Pont du Jour 
Staircase of Latona 
Parterre of Latona 
Fo 1 tain of Latona 
I n t the Lizards 
111 t of \-iew 
H 1 before the Tapis Ver 

111)1 Allie or Tapis Vert 
Hilfmoonattb ■ - ■ - 
Basin of Apollo 
\\\ic leading to Gr 
Cnnd Canal 
Little Venice 
Ra ling of the Me 
R ihni. of Little Venice 
^ tt I thcCrolloofThclis 

1 Basin of the Siren 
1 Nord 

! the Crowns 



nd ofthe Tapis Veil 
nd Canal 



a gene 



II 1 
II L 



nd 



d L 1 
o ba n f thi. Dragon 

7 I OS n cl of the Arch of Triumph 

8 Losqi et of the Three Fountains 

9 Basin of Neptune 
■jO Railink ofthe Dragon 

Static of Renown 
Ruling of Neptune 
PaitLrre du '" 



Or 



eptun 
Rlldi 



ry 



ofthe Oranpery 
r I t the first staircase 

I t the second staircase 

1 I t the Orangery 

3J S ss L ki. 

40 Mall 

41 ThdatredPau 
4'> Basin of the Children 
41 Uaili g of Ceres 

44 H iiiet f the Sin- 

45 Rt elvolr^of Jaiiilietlcs 
4f R ill I, of lainbetles 
47 B 1 I of the Obelisk 
|b I I I \pnllo 
4)1 I I, ol rctit-Poiit 
s K il . fe of I'lora 
51 Bain of thru 

5 Basin of C res 
=;3 Baths of Apollo 
S4 Quinconcc du Nurd 

S B sqictofthe Dnnies 
s6 Bosq let f the Giant 
5; Salle de B 1 
■iS Qumconce du Midi 
sg 1 he Colonnade 
( SilledesMarronnicrs 

6 Riling of Saturn 
C Basi 1 of Saturn 

63 Basin of Bacchus 

64 Lntraiice 1 1 Orangery 

65 Bosquet of the Queen 



lie Ml 






of the King 
1 u of the flavden ofthe King 
I g ot the Maids of Honor 
h n, of the Pheasantry 
ling ot Folichcncourt 

72 Policl encourr 

73 1 aihng ofthe Mall 

74 I c Stand 

75 Garden of Flowers 

76. Reservoii-s 

77. Pavilion of Wheeled-chairs 

78. Post of Inspectors ofthe Park 

79. Railing of Trianon 

80. Little Orangery 

81. Raihngof Little Orangery 
a. Grand Terrace 



Plan of the Gardens of Versailles 



The Menagerie 



ideas. She was delighted to have a domain of her own, and 
came there constantly to walk or to sup with her ladies. 
The king came also to please the Duchesse de Bourgogne. 
On the 1 2th of March, 1703, we find him there with the 
Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne and the Due du Maine, 
and on the following day he returned, accompanied by the 
Dauphin, the Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne, and the 
Due de Berry. He came frequently in 1704, and on the 21st 
of December, 1705, he walked there in a snow-storm. On 
the loth of August, 1707, he showed the Menagerie in 
detail to the Queen of England, who had not yet seen it, and 
supped there the same evening with the queen, with her son, 
whom they called at Versailles the King of England, with 
the Duchesse de Bourgogne, and with the Due de Berry. 
This was the last time that Louis XIV visited the Menagerie.^ 

* Under Louis XV and Louis jority of the animals were trans- 

XVI the Menagerie was out of fa- ported to the Jardin des Plantes in 

vor and out of fashion, though it Paris, and the remainder were 

was still kept up. In 1793 the ma- killed. 



105 



VI 
TRIANON 

IN 1663 the king purchased the land and village of Tri- 
anon, near the gardens of Versailles, tore down the 
houses, and added the land to the royal park. In 1670 
he built there, in honor of Madame de Montespan, a 
charming little house of porcelain, and laid out a handsome 
garden. It was a place in which to give collations to the 
court, and was in favor for some years; but in 1687 the king, 
who had grown weary both of the Marquise de Montespan 
and of the house erected in her honor, and who had married 
Madame de Maintenon, ordered Mansart to demolish the 
Trianon of porcelain and to construct a new Trianon. 

This chateau of marble stands near the extremity of the 
northern arm of the grand canal, and faces the Avenue de 
Trianon, which runs, outside the gardens of Versailles, from 
the courtyard of Trianon to the basin of Neptune. It is a 
building in the Italian style, one story in height, and sur- 
mounted by a balustrade which, in the time of Louis XIV, 
was adorned with statues and vases. On approaching by the 
Avenue de Trianon one sees on three sides of a square court- 
yard the yellow walls of the chateau, with their pilasters of 
reddish marble between all the windows. To the right and 
left of the gates are moats, now dry, which are surrounded 
by stone balustrades; and in front of the balustrades stand 
orange-trees in tubs. Trianon is much larger than it ap- 
pears to be at the first glance, for beyond the building 

106 



Trianon 

at the left of the main courtyard there is a second court- 
yard with buildings on all four sides, while the wing to 
the right of the main courtyard, in which the king lodged, 
is joined at the further end to another wing, called Trianon- 
sous-Bois, by a long gallery running west. Trianon-sous- 
Bois and the gallery, therefore, have the form of the letter 
L, the gallery being the base. Thus the part of the chateau 
which one sees on approaching the courtyard is not more 
than one fourth of Trianon. 

Early in 1687 an army of workmen and sculptors, with- 
drawn for the time being from Versailles, were sent to Tria- 
non, and the works were pushed vigorously, for Louis was 
anxious to have his new palace completed. He came him- 
self on the 13th of November, with Madame de Maintenon, 
to inspect the structure, which he found much advanced and 
very beautiful. On the 5th of December he returned, and 
spent several hours there, and was well pleased with all he 
saw. On another occasion he was not well pleased, and, 
according to Saint-Simon, his dissatisfaction with a certain 
window in the rising walls of Trianon set in motion forces 
that affected politics : 

"The king, who liked building, and who had cast off all 
his mistresses, had pulled down the little porcelain Trianon 
he had made for Madame de Montespan, and was rebuilding 
it in the form it still retains. One day he perceived, for his 
glance was most searching, that one window was a trifle 
narrower than the others. He showed it to Louvois, who 
was then Minister of War and also Superintendent of Build- 
ings, in order that it might be altered, which, as it was not 
then finished, was easy to do. Louvois maintained that the 
window was correct. The king insisted then, and on the 
morrow also, but Louvois, obstinate and inflated with his 
authority, would not yield. 

" The next day the king saw Le Notre in the gallery at 

107 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

Versailles. Although his trade was gardens rather than 
houses, the king did not fail to consult him upon the latter. 
He asked him if he had been to Trianon. Le Notre replied 
that he had not. The king ordered him to go. On the mor- 
row he saw Le Notre again; same question, same answer. 
The king comprehended the reason of this, and, a little an- 
noyed, commanded him to be there that afternoon at a given 
hour. This time Le Notre did not dare to disobey. The 
king arrived, and Louvois being present, they returned to 
the subject of the window, which Louvois obstinately said 
was as broad as the rest. The king wished Le Notre to 
measure it, for he knew that, upright and true, he would say 
openly what he found. Louvois, piqued, grew angry. The 
king, who was not less so, allowed him to say his say. Le 
Notre, meanwhile, did not stir. At last the king made him 
go, Louvois still grumbling and maintaining his assertion 
with audacity and little measure. Le Notre measured the 
window, and said that the king was right by several inches. 
Louvois still wished to argue, but the king cut him short, 
and commanded him to see that the window was altered 
at once, and, contrary to his usual moderation, blamed him 
very severely. What annoyed Louvois most was the fact that 
this scene took place not only before all the officers of the 
Buildings, but also in the presence of all who followed the 
king in his promenades, nobles, courtiers, officers of the 
guards, and others, even all the valets. The dressing given 
Louvois was severe and long, mixed with reflections upon 
the fault of this window, which, had it not been noticed in 
time, might have spoiled all the faqade and compelled it to 
be rebuilt. 

" Louvois, who was not accustomed to be treated thus, 
returned home in fury and like a man in despair. His friends 
were frightened, and in their disquietude angled to learn 
what had happened. At last he told them, said he was lost, 

io8 




■TCMT^- '-wmymfi 



h 



^^i^:i:vti~ 



Trianon 

and that for a few inches the king forgot all his services, 
which had led to so many conquests. He declared that hence- 
forth he would leave the trowel to the king, bring about a 
war, and so arrange matters that the king should have good 
need of him ! He soon kept his word. He caused a war to 
grow out of the affair of the double election of Cologne, of 
the Prince of Bavaria, and of the Cardinal of Furstemberg. 
He conjfirmed it in carrying the flames into the Palatinate." ^ 
Such is the famous story concerning the window of Trianon. 
In November, 1688, Trianon was finished and magnifi- 
cently furnished, but the beds were not put in place until 
1691 ; after that date the king could sleep at Trianon when- 
ever he chose. All the furniture was covered with crimson 
damask bordered with gold. In the center of the chateau 
an open vestibule,^ ornamented with beautiful marble col- 
umns, separated the main courtyard from the gardens, and 
connected the two principal parts of the palace. In summer 
this vestibule was sometimes used by Louis XIV as a dining- 
room. To the left of the vestibule, on the side facing the 
garden, were the apartments of Monseigneur, and also the 
salon of the Chapel, which contained an altar, and the salon 
of the Nobles, The apartments of Monseigneur, the three 
rooms furthest from the vestibule, consisted of the salon of 
Mirrors, the decorations of which cost 10,500 livres, and the 
bedchamber and antechamber of Monseigneur. Behind the 
five apartments just mentioned was the court of the Offices, 
which was surrounded by buildings in which the officers of 
the Household were lodged. To the right of the vestibule, 
in the wing on the north side of the main courtyard, were 
the king's apartments, the first of which, the salon of Col- 
umns, adjoined the vestibule, and opened on the east side 
into the king's antechamber, and on the north into the apart- 

^ Saint-Simon, II, pp. 83-85. closed now by windows between 

^ The arches of the vestibule are the columns. 

109 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

merits of the north wing. Behind the royal antechamber was 
the king's bedchamber, and behind that three small cabinets 
and a large cabinet, called the cabinet of the Council; the 
windows of the latter are those seen on the right as one 
approaches Trianon from Versailles. The windows of the 
king's bedchamber looked out on one side on the courtyard, 
and on the other on the small ornamental garden called the 
Jardin du Roi. The north wing contained ten handsome 
apartments, five facing the Jardin du Roi and five looking 
on the large parterre behind the palace. Those facing the 
Jardin du Roi were occupied by Madame de Maintenon, but 
to-day they retain no traces of that fact, for they are filled 
with furniture of the First Empire, the souvenirs of their 
most famous royal and imperial occupant. Napoleon I. Un- 
der the Grand Monarch the gallery leading from the north 
wing to Trianon-sous-Bois was decorated with paintings ^ 
by Cotelle, Allegrain, and Martin, representing views of the 
chateau and gardens of Versailles. As for Trianon-sous- 
Bois, so called because the grove which adjoined it was a 
small ornamental wood, it contained a number of little apart- 
ments which served as lodgings for the king's brother, M. 
le Due d'Orleans, and his wife, and for the king's grandsons 
and granddaughters-in-law, the Due and Duchesse de Bour- 
gogne and the Due and Duchesse de Berry. On the 22d of 
January, 1688, the king dined for the first time in his new 
chateau, in company with Monseigneur and Madame de 
Maintenon. 

The gardens of Trianon contained, and still contain, bos- 
quets and fountains, though much has been changed since 
the time of Louis XIV, From the terrace two splendid stone 
staircases descend to the grand canal. In both terrace and 
gardens there were jets of water as at Versailles. Mansart 
had designed the gardens of Trianon, and flowers abounded 
^ Many of these paintings are now in the Chateau of Versailles. 
I ID 



Trianon 

there, all the flowers of France, and rare plants from Switzer- 
land, from Constantinople, and from Persia, " One sum- 
mer," says Saint-Simon, " the king took to going very often 
in the evening to Trianon, and gave permission once for all 
to all the court, men and women, to follow him. There was 
a grand collation for the princesses, his daughters, who took 
their friends there, and indeed all the women went to it if 
they pleased. . . . Nothing was ever more magnificent than 
these soirees of Trianon. All the flowers of the parterres 
were renewed every day; and I have seen the king and all 
the court obliged to go away because of the tuberoses, the 
odor of which perfumed the air, but so powerfully on account 
of their quantity that nobody could remain in the garden, 
although very vast, and stretching like a terrace all along the 
canal." ^ 

There were from time to time splendid fetes at Trianon, 
but Dangeau has left one picture of the royal family at 
Trianon, in the summer of 1699, with which it may be well 
to close the chapter. Under date of July 10, 1699, he writes : 
" At six o'clock in the evening the king went to walk in the 
gardens of Trianon, and after promenading for some time 
he stopped on the terrace, that looks toward the canal, and 
watched Monseigneur, Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, and 
all the princesses, embark. Monseigneur was in a gondola 
with Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne and Mme. la Princesse de 
Conti. Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne was in another with 
the ladies she had named; in others were Mme. la Duchesse 
de Chartres and Mme. la Duchesse. ^ All the king's musi- 
cians were on board a yacht. The king ordered chairs to be 
brought to the balustrade, and remained there until eight 
o'clock, listening to the music. When the king returned to 
the chateau, those on the gondolas crossed the canal and did 

^ Saint-Simon, I, p. 253. 
" Daughters of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. 

Ill 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

not return to the chateau until the hour for supper. The 
king at first had wished to embark, but as he had some ten- 
dency to rheumatism, M. Fagon advised him not to do so, 
although the weather was very fine. After supper Mon- 
seigneur and Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne walked in the 
gardens until midnight. Monseigneur then went to bed, but 
Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne and Mme. la Duchesse, 
entering gondolas with some of their ladies, remained on 
the canal until break of day. Mme, la Duchesse then went 
to bed, but Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne waited for Ma- 
dame de Maintenon to set out for St. Cyr ; she saw her enter 
her carriage at seven o'clock, and then went to bed, without 
appearing to be fatigued after having been up all night. 
Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne, who had returned to Versailles, 
walked in the gardens there until morning, and then went 
to play at mall at six o'clock." 

Thus we see how the royal family enjoyed Trianon in a 
simple fashion during the soft nights of summer. In the 
closing years of his life Louis XIV preferred Marly to all 
his palaces. He seldom slept at Trianon, coming there 
simply to promenade. On the nth of August, 171 5, he 
walked in the gardens for the last time. 

Since 1766 the Trianon of Louis XIV has been called the 
Grand Trianon to distinguish it from the Little Trianon, 
erected by Louis XV. 



112 



VII 
THE PARKS 

THE Small Park of Versailles, beyond the gardens, 
still exists, with its walls pierced by sixteen gates. 
It extends over about six thousand acres, and con- 
tains the Swiss Lake to the south of the chateau, 
and the wood of Satory, the grand canal, the Menagerie, the 
palace and gardens of Trianon, and the wood of Cerf- Volant. 
It abounds in fine roads and splendid trees, and under Louis 
XIV it was well stocked with small game for the shooting 
parties of the king. 

The Large Park was begun in 1668, at which time they 
commenced to make roads and plant trees. In 1677 the 
king bought several tracts of land to complete his park, and 
ordered the whole to be surrounded by walls. The walls 
were completed, and the gates placed, in 1685. There were 
twenty-five gates, many of which still exist, and at each 
was a pavilion which served as a lodging for the Swiss soldier 
who guarded it. The Large Park covered more than 24,000 
acres, and contained fifteen villages, many farms, and many 
hunting-pavilions. On the 226. of August the king visited 
various parts of his new park, and found the walls well 
advanced. This park contained a breeding-place for pheas- 
ants that in itself covered as much ground as the gardens 
of Versailles. The Large Park abounded in game of all 
kinds. They chased the stag there, and the rabbit. The 
number of pheasants was prodigious. " Never have I seen," 

' 113 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

says Dangeau, under date of November i8, 1707, " so many- 
pheasants in the air. The king shot a large number, and 
gave them to the ladies who accompanied the Duchesse de 
Bourgogne." At Marly the wall of the Large Park of Ver- 
sailles separated that park from the park of Marly, for Marly 
had a game-stocked park of its own. In his parks, as else- 
where, the king loved to make changes and embellishments. 
On the 8th of December, 1685, he shut himself up with M. 
de la Rochefoucauld, the grand huntsman, in order to con- 
sider the plan of the Large Park of Versailles,^ and to see 
if anything further was needed to make it more attractive 
and convenient for hunting than it was already. Since he 
had at command such a hunting-establishment, such parks, 
such quantities of game, such a hunting-train, so varied, so 
complete, so magnificently appointed, it is not surprising that 
the Grand Monarch loved the chase. 

* In the Revolution the Large Park of Versailles was cut up and sold. 



114 



VIII 
THE COST OF VERSAILLES 

IT is not easy to know exactly the cost of the Versailles 
of Louis XIV. However, by means of the Comptes des 
Bdtiments and other official documents, it is possible 
to arrive at a result so careful and exact that for all in- 
tents and purposes it may be considered final. M. Eckard, in 
his Supplement aux Recherches Historiques sur Versailles, 
has reached such a result. The sum total is 116,438,892 livres 
in the money of the time of Louis XIV. To find present 
values the livre must be multiplied by five, which would 
make the sum total to-day about 500,000,000 francs, or 
$100,000,000. Eckard divides the sum total as follows: 

Expenses prior to 1664. • 1,500,000 livres 

Expenses from 1664 to 1690 87,537,989 " 

Expenses of the chapel (1699-1710) 3,260,342 " 

Expenses of Marly (1679-90) 4,501,279 " 

Sums paid for furniture, paintings, stuffs 
of gold and silver, and products of gold- 
smiths and silversmiths, etc 19,639,282 " 

116,438,892 livres 

In that important memorandum concerning the expenses 
of Versailles which was made for Mansart by an officer in 
his administration named Marinier, there are some interest- 
ing details as to the expenditures from 1664 to 1690, which, 

115 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

in the account above, are given in the lump sum of 87,537,- 
989 livres. These details are as follows : 

For the purchase of lands. 5,912,104 livres 

For buildings and works in the park .... 48,446,768 

For mirrors and crystals 221,631 

For sculptures 2,696,070 

For paintings and antiques 509^073 

For stuffs of gold and silver 1,075,673 

For products of the goldsmiths' art, etc. . . 3,245,759 

For medals and objects of art 556,069 

It is necessary to notice that in the sum total given by Eck- 
ard the expenses of Marly, and of Clagny, the splendid cha- 
teau built by the king for Madame de Montespan, are in- 
cluded. Marly is placed at 4,501,279 livres, and we know 
that Clagny cost 2,074,592 livres. It seems proper to de- 
duct tlfcse sums from the sum total of Versailles. As for 
the machine of Marly (costing 3,674,864 livres), and the 
immense works undertaken to bring the river Eure to Ver- 
sailles (costing 8,612,995 livres), though neither were at 
Versailles, the expense was incurred to secure water for the 
gardens, and may therefore be rightly counted in the cost 
of the latter.* 

To-day the state spends from 600,000 to 650,000 francs 
each year to keep up the palace and park of Versailles. 

^ Both these items are included in the sum total given by Eckard. 



116 



Plan I I 




Plan of the Palace, Park, and Town of Versaill ;s in the time of Louib XIV ar.d Louis XV 



IX 

THE MEANING OF VERSAILLES 

WHAT, then, was Versailles? Was it simply 
a huge palace, surrounded on one side by 
splendid gardens, and on the other by a 
stately town? It was that and more. 
Colbert had tried to keep the king in Paris at the Louvre. 
But Louis could not be the king he wished to be at the 
Louvre. He had dreamed a dream, he had formed a policy, 
and to realize them both he needed Versailles. To-day the 
doctrine of the divine right of kings is an anachronism, but 
in Louis's time it was a living force in the world. At the 
death of Mazarin, on the 9th of March, 1661, Louis had 
addressed his ministers and secretaries as follows : " In fu- 
ture, gentlemen, I shall be my own prime minister." The 
court heard these words with astonishment; but France, 
weary of civil strife and political dissensions, distrusting her 
nobility and loyal to her sovereign, France heard Louis's 
words, and applauded them, and cried with joy, " A king! '* 
Richelieu and Mazarin had paved a wide way for the royal 
chariot, and when, in 1661, Louis took the reins in his own 
hands, what stood between him and absolutism? Nothing 
but the fragments of power possessed by the nobility. Riche- 
lieu, it is true, had broken their haughty front, and the 
Fronde had revealed their weakness to the world; but they 
were still at the parting of the ways. They might seek to 
recover their lost strength, or the king, if he took the in- 

117 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

itiative, might mold them to his will. Louis comprehended 
this, and, with that perception and perseverance which dis- 
tinguished him, he advanced, amid the applause of France, 
to crush the nobles. To bring the higher nobility completely 
within his grasp, two things were essential : first, that they 
should all reside at court and form the king's permanent 
retinue, and, second, that they should serve regularly in the 
royal army, a thing quite contrary to their habits and pre- 
tensions. To carry out the first part of Louis's plan, Ver- 
sailles, or its equivalent, was an absolute necessity. The 
Louvre, in the center of Paris, was out of the question. 

Thus the Chateau of Versailles, with its vast salons, with 
its countless lodgings for courtiers, with its numerous de- 
pendencies, rose, and spread itself in the sunshine. With 
it rose the town of Versailles and the hotels of the nobility. 
In the Rue des Reservoirs were the hotels de Richelieu, de 
Crequi, de Conde, du Lude, and de Soissons; in the Rue 
de la Pompe, the hotels de Noailles, de Toulouse, de Livry, 
du Plessis, and de Duras; in the Avenue de St. Cloud, the 
hotels de Gesvres, de Guise, d'Estrees, and de Saint-Simon. 
These are but three streets out of many. The days of castle- 
life and cabals in the provinces were over. The local domi- 
nation of the great lords was done. Their resources were 
swallowed up by the increasing luxury of the court, and each 
year they became more and more dependent on the royal 
bounty. From the windows of his magnificent Galerie des 
Glaces, the Grand Monarch saw a horizon that was his own 
work; but within that gallery of Versailles he saw daily, 
what was vastly more important, the French nobility at 
his feet. " He looked to right and to left," says Saint-Simon, 
" not only upon rising and upon going to bed, but at his 
meals, in passing through his apartments, or his gardens of 
Versailles, where alone the courtiers were allowed to follow 
him. He saw and noticed everybody; not one escaped him, 

ii8 



The Meaning of Versailles 



not even those who hoped to remain unnoticed. He marked 
well all absentees from court, found out the reason of their 
absence, and never lost an opportunity of acting toward them 
as the occasion might seem to justify. With some of the 
courtiers, the most distinguished, it was a demerit not to 
make the court their ordinary abode; with others it was a 
fault to come but rarely; for those who never or scarcely 
ever came it was certain disgrace. When their names were 
mentioned in any way, * I do not know them,' the king would 
reply haughtily. Those who presented themselves but sel- 
dom were thus characterized : ' They are people I never see.' 
These decrees were irrevocable." ^ 

Versailles, therefore, was a policy and a system of govern- 
ment. Versailles was more than a palace : it was a world, 

* Saint-Simon, II, p. 364. 



119 



X 

THE FETES OF VERSAILLES 

THE grand fetes of Versailles took place between 
1663 and 1674, before Versailles became the seat 
of government, while both Versailles and the court, 
in fact, were in transition. During the period 
mentioned some seven or eight fetes, each lasting several 
days, were given in succeeding years, but only three will 
be described here. 

THE FETE OF 1664 

On the 5th of May, 1664, the court, numbering six hun- 
dred persons, arrived at Versailles to remain until the 14th. 
Louis was to give a fete, ostensibly in honor of his mother, 
Anne of Austria, and of his wife, Marie Therese, but in 
reality in honor of Mile, de la Valliere. In 1662 he had held 
in her honor his carrousel in the courtyard of the Tuileries; 
he was to offer her now one of the finest fetes he ever gave. 
Its organization was under the charge of the Due de Saint- 
Aignan, first gentleman of the Chamber. Lulli had com- 
posed the music, Moliere and his troupe were to play the 
comedies, Vigarani had arranged the decorations, illumina- 
tions, and fireworks. The fete lasted three days, the 7th, 8th, 
and 9th of May, and its subject, taken from Cantos VI and 
VII of Roland Furieux, represented Roger in the island and 
palace of the enchantress Alcina. The role of Roger was 

120 



The Fetes of Versailles 



played by the King of France; the other roles, by the chief 
nobles of the court. 

On the first day they held, in a circus of verdure placed 
at the entrance to the Royal Allee, and covering a large part 
of what is now the parterre of Latona, a running at the ring. 
The fete opened with a flourish of trumpets, and the ap- 
pearance of the Paladins, who entered the circus by four 
large arches of verdure: the King of France as Roger, the 
Due de Noailles, the Due de Guise, the Due de Foix, the 
Comte d'Armagnac, the Marquis de Soyecourt, and others, 
as, the Paladins of Charlemagne, all clad in brilliant habits, 
glittering with precious stones, and magnificently mounted. 
The cavalcade passed round the circle before the two queens 
and the ladies of the court. The Paladins were followed by 
a huge car, twenty-four feet long, fifteen feet wide, and eigh- 
teen feet high, carved and gilded and painted in striking col- 
ors, the chariot of Apollo, on which Apollo sat enthroned, 
having at his feet the four Ages. The Age of Gold was rep- 
resented by Madame Moliere, the Age of Silver by Hubert, 
the Age of Bronze by Mile, de Brie, the Age of Iron by Du 
Croisy, all having their proper attributes. Millet, the king's 
coachman, dressed as Time, drove the car, which was drawn 
by four horses, and escorted by the twelve Hours, the twelve 
signs of the Zodiac, and a crowd of pages. When the grand 
march was concluded, the running at the ring began. The 
Marquis de la Valliere won the prize, a sword of gold enriched 
with diamonds, and received it from the hands of Anne of 
Austria. Night came, and the circus of verdure was lighted 
by four thousand torches. Lulli appeared with his musi- 
cians, and the Hours and the signs of the Zodiac, who danced 
in a charming ballet. The hour for supper arrived, and the 
four Seasons, followed by an army of attendants, entered to 
announce it. First rode Spring, Mile, du Pare, in a habit 
of green, embroidered with silver and trimmed with natural 

121 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

flowers; she was mounted on a Spanish horse. Summer 
followed, the Sieur du Pare, upon an elephant, splendidly- 
caparisoned. Autumn, the Sieur de la Thorilliere, rode upon 
a camel; Winter, the Sieur Bejard, upon a bear. Their at- 
tendants carried baskets of fruits and flowers. Diana ap- 
peared, and Pan, no other than Moliere himself, each in turn 
addressing a compliment in verse to the Queen of France. 
A retinue of pages bore the collation to the tables of the 
royal family and of the courtiers. At the center of the largest 
table, crescent-shaped and crowded, sat the queen-mother, 
with the king at her right hand, and the queen at her left. 
Under a clear sky and quiet stars the torches in the circus 
of verdure flashed afar, lighting the faces of thousands of 
good Parisians, on the terrace of Versailles, who had come 
to catch a glimpse of their magnificent monarch, and stood 
staring at a wilderness of splendor. 

On the second day the amusement was comedy. A theater 
had been erected in a salle of verdure in the park, and hung 
with tapestries which prevented the breeze from reaching the 
flames of the torches and candles. The troupe of Moliere 
played the Princesse d'Elide, Moliere himself taking the role 
of Moron. The actors were in fancy costumes, and the 
actresses were attended by pages, who carried their long 
trains. At the conclusion of the comedy there were songs 
and dances. 

For the third day another theater had been constructed, 
this time at the end of the Royal Allee, including the basin 
of Apollo. Behind the basin a palace of Alcina had been 
constructed as a background : the basin formed the enchanted 
lake. The king and the two queens sat on a dais facing 
the basin, with the lords and ladies of the court at either side. 
The spectacle began with a concert, conducted by Lulli, and 
rendered by the king's musicians. Alcina then appeared in 
her barge on the enchanted lake, and addressed the two 

122 




ijptrmiision ofBravn, VlemeM ,t Co. 

Louise Frangoise de la Baume-le-Blanc, Duchesse de la Valliere 



The Fetes of Versailles 



queens in verse. When she waved her wand her enchanted 
palace, thanks to the skill of Vigarani, stood glittering in 
lines of light. Alcina's subjects, demons, dwarfs, and giants, 
danced a brilliant ballet, after which Roger (who on this 
occasion was not the king) appeared with other knights, and 
prepared to storm the castle. Alcina rallied her subjects, 
but since Roger had the ring which destroyed enchantments, 
the palace vanished in a whirlwind of fire. This display of 
fireworks, planned by Vigarani, was the conclusion of the 
fete. 

On the following day, the loth, there was another running 
at the ring, this time in the moats surrounding the chateau,^ 
and the court watched it from the balconies. His Majesty 
won the prize, but left it to be gained by others. Finally the 
Due de Coislin won it, and received the diamond from the 
queen's hand. In the afternoon of the nth, Louis took the 
court to promenade in the Menagerie, and in the evening 
Moliere and his troupe played Les Fdcheux in one of the 
salons of the palace. On the 12th there was a lottery with 
splendid presents for the ladies, and in the evening Moliere 
gave for the first time his immortal Tartuffe. On the 13th 
he played the Mariage Force, and on the 14th the court set 
out for Fontainebleau. This fete of 1664 is made memorable, 
not by its pomp and prodigious splendor, but by the fact that 
during its progress Moliere played Tartuffe. 

THE FETE OF 1668 

After the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, Louis decided to give 
a grand fete in his gardens of Versailles. Poor La Valliere, 
though still at court, was loved no longer. Madame de Mon- 
tespan had captured the king's heart, and the fete of 1668 was 
given in her honor. The Due de Crequi, first gentleman of 

* The chateau of Louis XIII. The new chateau had not been built. 

123 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

the Chamber, and the Marechal de Bellefonds, first maitre 
d'hotel, had charge of its organization. Three thousand per- 
sons were invited. The court arrived at Versailles from St. 
Germain on the 2 1st of April. 

On the evening of the 22d a collation was served in the 
bosquet of the Star, which had been splendidly decorated 
for the occasion. Then the court went to the theater, con- 
structed by Vigarani on the site of the present basin of 
Saturn. Before the opera the king's pages offered to the 
ladies oranges and fruits of all kinds. They played the Fetes 
de I' Amour et de Bacchus, an opera by Quinault, with music 
by Lulli, and after it George Dandin, a new piece by Moliere. 
At the conclusion of the performance the court walked 
through the gardens to a salon of verdure.^ Here the tables 
and buffets were arranged for the supper, and loaded with 
flowers and fruits in massive baskets of silver. The Gazette 
gives a long description of this salon of verdure, in which 
the silver products of the Gobelins abounded. The dark 
foliage of the bosquet was illuminated by hundreds of torches,, 
and the tables were lighted by thousands of candles in can- 
delabra of carved silver. 

After the supper came the dance, which was held in another 
bosquet in a ball-room ^ constructed by Levau. It was open 
to the sky, lined with orange-trees in silver tubs and spark- 
ling fountains, and filled with lights. At two o'clock in the 
morning the dances ended, and the courtiers left the ball- 
room to see the illuminations in the park. The fagade of the 
chateau, the terrace, and the parterre of Latona were all 
ablaze with colored lights, while the Royal Allee was lined 
with seventy-two towers of colored fire, which shot up thou- 
sands of rockets into the sky. To finish the spectacle a su- 
perb display of fireworks, planned by Fivry, was discharged 

^ On the site of the present basin of Flora. 
^ Where the basin of Ceres now is. 

124 



The FStes of Versailles 



from the side of the Swiss Lake. The fete cost i I7,0(X) livres, 
a sum equal to nearly $120,000 to-day. It was costly, but 
it lacked the glamour of romance, the allegory and the chiv- 
alry, which had embellished the fete in honor of La Valliere, 
the one woman who loved Louis for himself alone. It was 
pompous, full of gold and silver, not romantic, but magnifi- 
cent like Montespan. 

THE FETE OF 1674 

" The king," says Felibien, " after the conquest of Franche- 
Comte, in order to give the court some moments of repose 
and pleasure, following the fatigues of a long journey which 
the weather had rendered very disagreeable, ordered, as soon 
as he arrived at Versailles on the 30th of June, that fetes 
should be prepared. One of the most remarkable things 
about the king's fetes is the promptness that accompanies 
their magnificence ; because his orders are executed with such 
diligence by those who have charge of the arrangements that 
things are accomplished as by a miracle. People are sur- 
prised to see, almost in a moment, theaters erected, bosquets 
adorned with fountains and statues, and collations served; 
especially since everything has been done so rapidly and so 
quietly that they have been hardly able to perceive the 
preparations." ^ 

The fete took place on six days during the months of July 
and August. On the first day, the 4th of July, there was a 
collation, served in the Marais, now the Baths of Apollo, 
which was decorated with a very large number of beautiful 
porcelain vases filled with flowers. The fruits were served 
in baskets of porcelain. The courtiers then passed to the 
court of marble, on the other side of the chateau, where 
Alceste, an opera by Quinault and Lulli, was to be performed 

^Dussieux, I, pp. 70-71. 

12=; 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

by the actors of the Royal Academy of Music. The theater 
was the marble court itself. All the windows of the chateau 
were illuminated, and the sides of the courtyard were deco- 
rated with lofty candelabra of silver and crystal, and with 
orange-trees in silver tubs. His Majesty's chair was placed 
on a low platform, covered with velvet, in the royal court; 
behind it were the raised seats for the courtiers. 

On the second day of the fete, July nth, the king spent 
the evening in his little porcelain house of Trianon, where 
the main salon was decorated with a prodigious quantity of 
flowers. Quinault's Eglogue de Versailles was sung, and 
the court then returned in carriages to Versailles for supper, 
which was served in one of the bosquets of the garden. On 
the 17th the members of the French Academy came to com- 
pliment His Majesty on his recent conquests, and in the 
name of his colleagues the Abbe Flechier made an eloquent 
speech, with which, according to the Gazette, His Majesty 
was " extremely satisfied." 

July 19th was the third day of the fete. In the afternoon 
the king gave a collation to the ladies at the Menagerie, after 
which the court embarked in gondolas, and remained for some 
time on the canal, listening to music. In the evening the thea- 
ter was placed in the Grotto of Thetis, where the whole court 
witnessed a performance of Moliere's Malade Imaginaire. 

For the fourth day, July 28th, the king ordered that the 
collation should be more splendid than those previously given. 
It was served in the Theatre d'Eau, and in the wealth of its 
lights, its silver and gold vessels, its flowers and decorations, 
it surpassed the other collations of the fete. An open-air 
theater had been erected near the basin of the Dragon, in 
which Quinault's Cadmus et Hermione was played. The 
evening closed with a display of fireworks on the grand 
canal, and a magnificent supper, served in the marble court- 
yard. 

126 




Anne of Austria 



The Fetes of Versailles 



The fifth day, August i8th, was the most worthy of notice. 
On that day M. de Gourville, in the name of the Prince de 
Conde, presented to Louis one hundred and seven flags taken 
from the enemy at the battle of Seneffe. At the conclusion of 
this imposing ceremony the courtiers entered thirty six-horse 
carriages and drove in the park. The usual collation fol- 
lowed, and then the play, this time in a theater constructed 
in the Orangery, where Racine's tragedy Iphigenie was ad- 
mirably performed and much applauded. A display of fire- 
works at the grand canal terminated the evening. 

The sixth and last day, August 31st, witnessed no change 
in the daily life of the court, but in the evening the illumina- 
tion of the gardens of Versailles was magical. The lines of 
all the parterres blazed with light, the fountains were aglow 
with colored fires, while the grand canal was illuminated 
throughout its whole extent. The king went to walk in the 
gardens at one o'clock in the morning and remained for some 
hours. The court promenaded until dawn. 

Thus closed the grand fetes of Versailles. France and Eu- 
rope had seen nothing like them since the Renaissance. They 
made Versailles a fairy-land ; and to-day some traces of their 
vanished magnificence still linger in the pictures of Silvestre 
and Lepautre. Among them all the Fete of 1674 was truly 
royal, since the Grand Monarch enhanced its pomp and splen- 
dor with the masterpieces of Racine and Moliere, with mar- 
tial music and the battle-flags of the enemy. 



127 



XI 

MARLY 

NO description of the court of Louis XIV can be 
complete without an account of Marly. Marly 
was too closely identified with the king and the 
courtiers to be omitted, and, moreover, it was 
unique in its conception and embellishment. Saint-Simon 
was as unjust to Marly as to Versailles. " The king," says 
he, " tired of cost and bustle, persuaded himself that he 
should like something little and solitary. He searched all 
around Versailles for some place to satisfy this new taste. 
He examined several neighborhoods; he traversed the hills 
near St. Germain, and the vast plain which is at the bottom, 
where the Seine winds and bathes the feet of so many towns, 
and so many treasures in quitting Paris. He was pressed 
to fix himself at Lucienne, where Cavoye afterward had a 
house, the view from which is enchanting ; but he replied that 
so fine a situation would ruin him, and that as he wished to go 
to no expense, he also desired a situation which would not 
urge him into any. He found behind Lucienne a deep, nar- 
row valley, completely shut in, inaccessible from its swamps, 
and with a wretched village called Marly upon the slope of 
one of its hills. . . . The king was overjoyed at his dis- 
covery. The hermitage was made. At first it was only for 
sleeping in three nights, from Wednesday to Saturday, two 
or three times a year, with a dozen at the outside of courtiers, 
to fill the most indispensable posts. But by degrees the her- 

128 



^^ Marly 

mitage was augmented, the hills were pared and cut down, 
to give at least the semblance of a prospect ; in fine, what with 
buildings, gardens, waters, aqueducts, the curious and well- 
known machine, statues, precious furniture, the park, the 
ornamental inclosed forest. Marly has become what it is to- 
day, though it has been stripped since the death of the king. 
Great trees were unceasingly brought from Compiegne or 
farther, three fourths of which died and were immediately 
after replaced; vast spaces covered with thick wood, or ob- 
scure alleys, were suddenly changed into immense pieces of 
water, on which people were rowed in gondolas; then they 
were changed back again into forest (I speak of what I have 
seen in six weeks) ; basins were changed a hundred times; 
cascades the same; carp-ponds adorned with the most ex- 
quisite painting, scarcely finished, were changed and differ- 
ently arranged by the same hands, and this an infinite number 
of times; then there was that prodigious machine just al- 
luded to, with its immense aqueducts, the conduit, its mon- 
strous resources devoted solely to Marly, and no longer to 
Versailles ; so that I am under the mark in saying that Ver- 
sailles, even, did not cost so much as Marly." ^ This last 
statement is absurd. Saint-Simon was talking at random, 
without any knowledge of the accounts. As has already been 
shown in the chapter on the cost of Versailles, Eckard places 
the expenses of Marly from 1679 to 1690 at 4,501,279 livres. 
The expenses from 1690 to 171 5 will amount to as much 
more; and thus, including the cost of the machine of Marly, 
the sum total for the park and palace is slightly over 12,- 
000,000 livres, or about $12,000,000 to-day, a little over one 
tenth of the cost of Versailles. The king built and changed 
continually at Marly. Let us see what he obtained for his 
outlay. 

In 1676 the king bought land at Marly; the place was cov- 

^ Saint-Simon, II, pp. 370-371- 
® 129 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

ered with thick woods, which in 1677 a very large number 
of peasants, working under the corvee, that is, without wages, 
were forced to cut. In 1679 the king began to build Marly. 
Mansart commenced the construction of the chateau in that 
year and finished it in 1684. "Tired of cost and bustle," 
says Saint-Simon, " the king persuaded himself that he 
should like something little and solitary." We are to infer 
that after the completion of Versailles the king wearied of it 
and turned to Marly; but a glance at the dates shows con- 
clusively that the king began Marly long before Versailles 
was finished. Marly and Versailles, in fact, grew in size and 
splendor at the same time, and slowly, for the king worked 
at their enlargement and embellishment through a period of 
forty years. The Due de Saint-Simon was invited to Marly 
for the first time on November 30, 1695, and he does not seem 
to have taken the trouble to make himself acquainted with 
the history of the place prior to that date. 

The Chateau of Marly, called frequently the Pavilion of 
the Sun, stood on high ground in the center of the park. 
The chateau was square, and was surrounded by an extensive 
terrace, from which the splendid gardens sloped gradually 
to the distant woods. The four faqades were richly decorated 
with sculptures and mural paintings, executed, after designs 
by Lebrun, by Rousseau and Meusnier. In the center of the 
interior was a vast octagonal salon, superbly decorated, oc- 
cupying the entire height of the building, with four doors 
and four beautiful marble chimneypieces, and with an in- 
terior balcony on a level with the rooms on the first floor. 
On the ground floor and on the first floor were four suites 
of apartments, intended solely for the royal family, and all 
opening into the large salon. Those of the king were fur- 
nished in red velvet; Monseigneur's were in green velvet; 
Monsieur's in blue velvet; and those of his wife, Mme. la 
Duchesse d'Orleans, were in yellow velvet. The king's bed 

130 



Marly 

was hung with red draperies and adorned with white plumes. 
In his cabinet stood a large gilded cupboard, set with glass 
and richly carved, which contained jewelry of gold and sil- 
ver, and other articles of value. These the king presented 
to the ladies from time to time at lotteries, the tickets for 
which cost them nothing. The contents of the cupboard was 
renewed at each visit of the court. The vestibules of the 
chateau were hung with paintings ^ by Van der Meulen and 
Martin, representing the various towns taken by the king's 
armies. The chateau, as has been said, was for the royal 
family only, though Madame de Maintenon, of course, had 
apartments there after 1684. It was necessary, therefore, 
to have other lodgings for courtiers. 

These were supplied in part by twelve pavilions, each 
square in form, and though much smaller and less richly 
decorated than the chateau, still very handsome. They were 
placed in two lines, six on a side, and were connected with 
one another by ornamental arbors of foliage. The grand 
basins and allees of the garden separated the two lines of 
pavilions. All the pavilions were adorned with mural paint- 
ings emblematical of the twelve signs of the Zodiac, after 
which they were named; the two nearest the chateau being 
reserved for the princes of the blood. In addition to the 
pavilions there stood at the left of the chateau, at one side 
of the gate of the avenue that led to the road to Versailles, 
a chapel, and at the other side of the gate a pavilion called 
the Perspective, which concealed a long suite of offices, 
lodging-rooms, kitchens, and dining-rooms intended for peo- 
ple belonging to the service. Such, in brief, was the king's 
country house. Words convey no impression of the effect of 
the sculptures, the delicate yellow of the stone, the gorgeous 
mural paintings on the walls, amid the green foliage of the 

* These paintings are to-day at the Louvre and at the 

Chateau of Versailles. 

i3i 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

trees and arbors, amid the marble statues and the splashing 
fountains. In the water-colors preserved at the Cabinet des 
Estampes, and reproduced in M. Guillaumot's sumptuous 
book on Marly, the favorite chateau of the Grand Monarch 
lives again with all its brilliancy and splendor. 

But the gardens ^ were the chief charm of Marly. " I do 
not believe," wrote the Palatine in 1702, " that it would be 
possible to find in all the world a more beautiful garden than 
this." On the upper terrace, to the right and left of the cha- 
teau, were four ornamental bosquets, called the SallesTVertes, 
which contained the carp-basins and very beautiful statuary. 
The chateau itself, slightly elevated, was surrounded by a 
balustrade, from which eight flights of steps, one in the center 
of each side and one at each corner, descended to the terrace ; 
the balustrade being ornamented with marble sphinxes, with 
bronze Cupids astride, like those at the entrance to the par- 
terre du Midi at Versailles. In front of the chateau a broad 
flight of steps led from the upper terrace to a second terrace, 
called the Grand Parterre, which was flanked by two Salles- 
Vertes containing basins; from this in turn steps descended 
to the third terrace, containing a piece of water styled the 
Quatre-Gerbes, to the right and left of which steps led to 
the lower part of the gardens, which contained three pieces 
of water of varying size and shape, placed one behind an- 
other, and separated by trees and ornamental allees. These 
basins were called the Grand-Jet, the Nappes, and the Abreu- 
voir; the latter was just outside the wall of the gardens, and 
to-day, in ruins, is the sole remnant of Marly. The Grand- 
Jet threw up five columns of water to a surprising height. 
At the basin of the Nappes they placed in 1702 the horses 
of Coyzevox, which are now at the entrance to the garden of 
the Tuileries; and in the reign of Louis XV the beautiful 
horses of Coustou, which stand now at the entrance to the 
^The gardens of Marly were designed by Duruze. 
132 



Marly . 

Champs-lSlysees, were placed on the wall of the garden, be- 
hind the Abreuvoir. The parts of the garden just mentioned 
lay in front of the chateau, and between the twelve pavilions 
of the Zodiac. 

Behind the chateau was the finest fountain at Marly, the 
Cascade. " It was," says Piganiol, " a veritable river, rush- 
ing down over sixty-three steps of white marble, and form- 
ing sheets of water of unsurpassed beauty." In 1728 this 
admirable Cascade was destroyed by order of Cardinal 
Fleury, who was unwilling to spend the money needed for its 
repair. The half-moon at the head of the Cascade, next to 
the terrace of the chateau, contained splendid bronze groups 
of the Ocean and of Neptune, by Coustou and by Coyzevox. 
Beyond the Cascade rose the wooded slopes of the valley, the 
high gardens, as they were called, containing charming walks, 
and twelve or fifteen bosquets, adorned with fountains and 
statues. The gardens of Marly covered nearly 300 acres. 
Terraces, allees, basins, fountains, bosquets, cabinets of ver- 
dure, the chateau itself, the pavilions, all were adorned with 
an immense number of statues ^ in marble or bronze, which 
had been created by an army of sculptors. Yew-trees 
abounded, and were trimmed in various forms. 

The park of Marly contained 1850 acres, and the forest 
3000 acres. Through the latter the king had made so many 
splendid roads that, according to Dangeau, it was the finest 
place in the world to hunt the stag. They played mall in 
the park. Monseigneur and the Duchesse de Bourgogne 
played frequently, and the king summoned professional 
players to Marly to amuse his brother. Monsieur. There 
was a see-saw for the young princesses, and a sledge on rails, 
a sort of merry-go-round. But whatever diversions were 

^ Some ten or twelve of these Louvre. The rest were destroyed 
statues are in the garden of the during the Revolution. 
Tuileries, and as many at the 

^33 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

provided for the younger members of the royal family, the 
one who amused himself most in the park of Marly was the 
king, who was constantly planting new trees, and having 
them trimmed in different styles, or trimming them himself. 
Early in 1689 Marly appeared to be finished, but in August 
of that year the king began to plant new allees. On the i6th 
of September Dangeau tells us that the king was busy plant- 
ing trees and placing statues. On the ist of October His Maj- 
esty amused himself in trimming yew-trees. In January, 
1690, he laid out a new parterre. In 1695 we find him watch- 
ing the construction of the Cascade ; in 1696 he ordered a new 
fountain, the Baths of Agrippina; in 1699 a regiment of 
soldiers worked at Marly, cutting away the hill beyond the 
Abreuvoir. The king remarked to Dangeau in 1701 that 
Marly was then so beautiful that he thought nothing more 
could be done to improve it. Four days later not a single 
workman remained in the gardens of Marly; but six months 
afterward Dangeau noted the fact that the works had been 
begun again, and that they were well advanced. In 1698 
Madame de Maintenon ventured to make some remarks to 
the Grand Monarch on the increasing expenses of Marly, 
but her observations were not well received. The king, in- 
deed, continued, almost up to the day of his death, to embel- 
lish Marly. 

COURT LIFE AT MARLY 

At first the journeys to Marly took place but twice a month, 
the sojourn being for three days at a time, but in the later 
years of the reign the journeys were much more frequent, 
and the king sometimes remained two or three months at 
Marly. Music, comedies, lotteries, promenades, hunts, sup- 
pers, balls, and gambling were, as at Versailles, the ordinary 
pleasures of the court, but with fewer people and less eti- 
quette. Racine, in a letter to Boileau, under date of August 

134 



Marly 

24, 1687, has summed up in a few sentences the contrast 
between Marly and Versailles. " You know," he writes, 
" how delightful Marly is. The court here wears a different 
aspect from that which it has at Versailles. There are fewer 
people, and the king invites all who are here.^ Therefore 
all those who find themselves here feel highly honored and 
are in the best possible humor. The king himself is very 
free and amiable. One would say that at Versailles he was 
entirely occupied with business, but that at Marly he was a 
host seeking the pleasure of his guests." Aside from the de- 
light he took in adorning his hermitage, and the relaxation he 
had there. Marly was extremely useful to the king. " The fre- 
quent fetes," says Saint-Simon, " the private promenades at 
Versailles, the journeys to Marly, were means on which the 
king seized in order to distinguish or mortify the courtiers, 
and thus render them more assiduous in pleasing him. He 
felt that of real favors he had not enough to bestow; and in 
order to keep up the spirit of devotion, he unceasingly in- 
vented all sorts of ideal ones, little preferences and petty dis- 
tinctions, which answered his purpose as well." ^ To be at 
Versailles was the duty of all the nobility; to be at Marly 
was the privilege of the favored few. If Versailles was nec- 
essary in order to make the nobles dependent on the royal 
bounty, Alarly was not less necessary, in order that assiduity 
and adulation might be kept at white heat. 

They had, then, fewer people and less etiquette at Marly. 
" Marly," says Saint-Simon, " had a privilege unknown to 
the other places. On going out from the chateau, the king 
said aloud, ' Your hats, gentlemen,' and immediately cour- 
tiers, officers of the guard, everybody in fact, covered their 
heads, as he would have been much displeased had they not 
done so ; and this lasted all the promenade, that is, two or three 

'All the expenses of the sojourns at Marly were paid for by the king. 
^ Saint-Simon, II, p, 364. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

hours in summer, or in other seasons, when lie dined early 
at Versailles to go and walk at Marly, and not sleep there." ^ 
The Palatine was indignant at the freedom given the cour- 
tiers at Marly. " One does not know what to make of all 
this," she writes. "When the king goes to the promenade, 
all the courtiers put on their hats. The Duchesse de Bour- 
gogne goes to walk; well, she takes the arm of one of her 
ladies, and the others walk at her side. Here in the salon 
all the men are seated in the presence of Monseigneur and of 
Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne; some even recline on the 
couches. I cannot accustom myself to this confusion. It 
is not at all my idea of what a court should be." Few pas- 
sages on the etiquette of the court are more instructive than 
this. How slight was the relaxation from the rigid etiquette 
of Versailles! And yet Mme, la Duchesse d'Orleans, who 
was neither a fool nor a prig, considered it " confusion." 

The first fetes at Marly were given on the 23d of July 
and on the 3d of September, 1684. At the fete of the 21st 
of August, 1685, they played before supper the Sicilien of 
Moliere, and after supper there was a ball. During the so- 
journ of the court in September, 1686, Madame de Mon- 
tespan, furious at her downfall, and yet unwilling to vanish 
from the scene, remarked bitterly to the king after dinner 
that she had a favor to ask of him during the stay at Marly — 
namely, that he would permit her to entertain the people of 
the second carriage, and to divert the antechamber. In 1687 
the sojourns of the court were longer and more frequent, 
and gambling began for high stakes. In September, 1689, 
there was a lottery, at which the ladies, with tickets which 
cost them nothing, gained articles of jewelry adorned with 
pearls and diamonds, brocades, and silverware. At all court 
lotteries, unless given for some special purpose, the objects 
won were presents from the king. After the lottery the 

' Saint-Simon, III, p. 25. 
136 




Anne Marie de la Tremoille, Princesse des Ursins 



Marly 

comedy-ballet of the Bourgeois Gentilhomme was played in 
the salon; the king was seated in the balcony. The winter 
of 1700 was especially gay at Marly. There were more balls 
and masquerades than usual, and also small dances, which the 
king was fond of having at Marly, and at which he took 
pleasure in seeing his daughters, Madame de Chartres and 
Mme. la Duchesse, and his granddaughter-in-law, the Duch- 
esse de Bourgogne, dance. In the same year music became 
the fashion, and the king's musicians were summoned to give 
concerts in the apartments of Madame de Maintenon. 

It was at Marly, at a ball on the 23d of January, 1705, 
that the Princesse des Ursins, who had been exiled to Rome 
in the previous year by Louis XIV, reappeared in triumph, 
and took, according to Saint-Simon, such a " high flight " 
that its like had never been seen before. It is interesting to 
see what this " high flight " was. Saint-Simon's portrait 
of the Princesse des Ursins is to the life : " She was rather 
tall than otherwise, a brunette, with blue eyes of the most 
varied expression, in figure perfect, with a most exquisite 
bosom. Her face, without being beautiful, was charming; 
and she was extremely noble in air, very majestic in de- 
meanor, full of graces so natural and so continual in every- 
thing that I have never seen any one approach her, either 
in form or mind. Her wit was copious and of all kinds; 
she was flattering, caressing, insinuating, moderate, wishing 
to please for the sake of pleasing, with charms irresistible 
when she strove to persuade and win over ; accompanying all 
this, she had a grandeur that encouraged instead of fright- 
ening; a delicious conversation, inexhaustible and very amus- 
ing, for she had seen many countries and persons; a voice 
and way of speaking extremely agreeable, and full of sweet- 
ness. She had read much and reflected much. She knew 
how to choose the best society, how to receive them, and 
could even have held a court ; was polite, distinguished, and, 

137 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

above all, was careful never to take a step in advance without 
dignity and discretion. She was eminently fitted for intrigue, 
in which, from taste, she had passed her time at Rome ; with 
much ambition, but of that vast kind, far above her sex, and 
the common run of men — a desire to occupy a great position 
and to govern. A love for gallantry and personal vanity 
were her foibles, and these clung to her until her latest day; 
consequently she dressed in a way that no longer became her, 
and as she advanced in life, removed further from propriety 
in this particular. She was an ardent and excellent friend, 
of a friendship that time and absence never enfeebled, and, 
consequently, an implacable enemy, pursuing her hatred to 
the infernal regions. While caring little for the means by 
which she gained her ends, she tried as much as possible to 
reach them by honest means. Secret, not only for herself 
but for her friends, she was yet of a decorous gaiety, and 
so governed her humors that at all times and in everything 
she was mistress of herself. Such was the Princesse des 
Ursins. From the first moment on which she entered the 
service of the Queen of Spain, it became her desire to govern 
not only the queen, but the king,^ and by this means the realm 
itself. Such a grand project had need of support from our 
king, who, at the commencement, ruled the court of Spain 
as much as his own court, with entire influence over all mat- 
ters." 2 

This remarkable woman offended Louis XIV by her course 
in Spain. He exiled her to Rome, but she asked for permis- 
sion to come to Versailles and justify herself, and, through 
the influence of Madame de Maintenon, the request was 
granted. She came and took the king by storm. " We 
returned to Marly," says Saint-Simon. " It need not be 
doubted that Madame des Ursins was among the invited. 

^ Philippe V, grandson of Louis XIV. 
^ Saint-Simon, I, pp. 262-264. 



Marly 

Apartments were given her, and nothing could equal the tri- 
umphant air with which she took possession of them, the 
continual attentions of the king to her, as though she were 
some little foreign queen just arrived at his court, or the 
majestic fashion in which she received these attentions, min- 
gled with grace and respectful politeness, then almost out of 
date, which recalled the stately old dames of the queen- 
mother. She never came without the king, who appeared 
to be completely occupied with her, talking with her, pointing 
out objects for her inspection, seeking her opinion and her 
approbation with an air of gallantry, even of flattery, which 
never ceased. The frequent private conversations that she 
had with him in the apartment of Madame de Maintenon, 
and which lasted an hour, and sometimes double that time, 
and those that she had very often in the morning alone with 
Madame de Maintenon, rendered her the divinity of the court. 
The princesses encircled her the moment she appeared any- 
where, and went to see her in her chamber. Nothing was 
more surprising than the servile eagerness with which the 
greatest people, the highest in power and the most in favor, 
clustered around her. Her very glances were counted, and 
her words, addressed even to ladies of the highest rank, im- 
printed upon them a look of ravishment. ... At the ball 
Madame des Ursins seated herself near the grand chamber- 
lain, and looked at everybody with her lorgnette. At every 
moment the king turned round to speak to her and to Madame 
de Maintenon, who came for half an hour or so, and on 
her account displaced the grand chamberlain, who put him- 
self behind her. In this manner she joined Madame des 
Ursins, and was close to the king, the conversation between 
the three being continual. But what, more than any public 
distinction, marked the prodigious flight that Madame des 
Ursins took was the fact that in the salon she carried a little 
spaniel in her arms, as though she had been in her own house. 

139 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

People could not sufficiently express their astonishment at 
a familiarity on which even Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne 
would not have dared to venture; still less could they do so 
when they saw the king caress this little dog at the close 
of the ball. In fine, such a high flight has never been seen. 
People could not accustom themselves to it, and those who 
knew the king and his court are surprised still, when they 
think of it, after so many years." ^ 

Anecdotes of the life at Marly might be multiplied, but 
it is necessary to pass on. For the Grand Monarch there 
were dark days at Marly. At Marly he received the news 
of the death of his brother, at Marly he received accounts 
of the defeats of his generals, to Marly he came in the night 
of the 14th of April, 171 1, when his son and heir lay dead 
at Meudon. Saint-Simon sketches in a few words that com- 
ing in the night : " At Marly everybody had felt so confident 
that the king's return there was not dreamt of. Nothing 
was ready, no keys of the rooms, no fires, scarcely an end 
of candle. The king was more than an hour thus with Ma- 
dame de Maintenon and other ladies in one of the ante- 
chambers. The king retired into a corner, seated between 
Madame de Maintenon and two other ladies, and wept at 
long intervals. At last the chamber of Madame de Main- 
tenon was ready. The king entered, remained there an hour, 
and then went to bed at nearly four o'clock in the morning." ^ 

To finish with the life at Marly, let us add that, with but 
two exceptions, no ambassador, no foreigner, was ever ad- 
mitted to Marly; that husbands had the right to accompany 
their wives there ; and that the king worked there each morn- 
ing with his ministers, as at Versailles. 

THE DESTRUCTION OF MARLY 

" On Saturday, the loth of August, 17 15, the king walked 

before dinner in his gardens at Macly. He returned to Ver- 

^ Saint-Simon, I, pp. 277-279. ^Idem, II, p. 188. 

140 



Marly 

sailles about six o'clock in the evening, and never saw again 
that favorite work of his hands." ^ Louis XIV was hardly 
dead when the regent, acting on the advice of the Due de 
Noailles, prepared to destroy Marly. With great good sense 
the Due de Saint-Simon prevented this disgraceful project. 
Let him tell the story in his own words : 

" One afternoon, as we were about to take our places at 
the regency council, the Marechal de Villa'rs drew me aside 
and asked me if I knew that Marly was going to be destroyed. 
I replied, ' No ' ; indeed, I had not heard of it, and I added 
that I could not believe it. * You do not approve of it ? ' 
said the marechal. I assured him I was far from doing so. 
He replied that the destruction was resolved on, that he 
knew it beyond all doubt, and that if I wished to hinder 
it, I had not a moment to lose. I replied that when we took 
our places I would speak to M. le Due d'Orleans. ' Imme- 
mediately,' replied the marechal, quickly; 'speak to him this 
instant, for the order is perhaps already given.' As all the 
council were already seated, I went behind to M. le Due d'Or- 
leans, and whispered in his ear what I had just learned with- 
out naming from whom, and begged him, if my information 
was right, to suspend the execution of his project until I had 
spoken to him, adding that I would join him at the Palais 
Royal after the council. He stammered a little, as if sorry 
at being discovered, but nevertheless agreed to wait for me. 
I said so in leaving to the Marechal de Villars, and went to 
the Palais Royal, where M. le Due d'Orleans admitted the 
truth of the news I had heard. I said I would not ask who 
had given such pernicious counsel. He tried to show it was 
good by pointing to the saving in keeping up that would be 
obtained; to the gain that would accrue from the sale of 
so many water-conduits and materials ; to the unpleasant situ- 
ation of a place to which the king ^ would not be able to 
go for several years; and to the expense the king was put 

' Saint-Simon, II, p. 344. ^ Tlie young Louis XV. 

141 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

to in keeping up so many other beautiful palaces, not one 
of which admitted of pulHng down. I replied to him that 
these were the reasons of the guardian of a private gentle- 
man, the conduct of whom could in no way resemble that 
of the guardian of a King of France; that the expenses in- 
curred in keeping up Marly were necessary, and that, com- 
pared with the total of those of the king, they were but as 
drops in the ocean. I begged him to get rid of the idea 
that the sale of the materials would yield any profit; all 
the receipts would go in gifts and pillage, I said; and also 
that it was not these petty objects he ought to regard, but 
that he should consider how many millions had been buried 
in this valley to transform it into a fairy palace, unique 
as to form in all Europe, unique, too, by the beauty of its foun- 
tains, and by the reputation that the deceased king had given 
to it; that it was an object of curiosity to strangers of every 
rank who came to France ; that its destruction would resound 
throughout Europe with censure; that these mean reasons 
of petty economy would not prevent all France from being 
indignant at seeing so distingfuished an ornament swept 
away; that although neither he nor I might be very delicate 
upon what had been the taste and the favorite work of the 
late king, the regent ought to avoid wounding his memory, 
which, by such a long reign, so many brilliant years, so many 
great reverses so heroically sustained, and escaped from in 
so unhoped-for a manner, had left the entire world in ven- 
eration of his person : in fine, that he might reckon all the 
discontented, all the neutral even, would join in chorus with 
the Ancient Court, and cry murder ; that the Due du Maine,^ 
Madame de Ventadour,^ the Marechal de Villeroi ^ would 
not hesitate to look upon the destruction of Marly as a crime 
against the king, a crime they would not fail to make the best 

^ Son of Louis XIV and Madame ^ Governess of Louis XV. 
de Montespan. ^ Governor of Louis XV. 

142 



Marly 

of for their own purposes during all the regency, and even 
after it was at an end. I clearly saw that M. le Due d'Or- 
leans had not in the least reflected upon all this. He agreed 
that I was right ; promised that Marly should not be touched, 
that it should continue to be kept up, and thanked me for 
preserving him from this fault. When I was well assured 
of him, ' Admit,' said I, ' that the late king, in the other 
world, would be much astonished if he could know that the 
Due de Noailles had made you order the destruction of Marly, 
and that it was I who hindered it.' ' Oh, as to that,' he re- 
plied quickly, ' it is true he could not believe it.' In effect 
Marly was preserved and kept up, and it is the Cardinal 
Fleury, with his collegiate proctor's avarice, who has stripped 
it of its river,^ which was its most superb charm." ^ 

The Due de Saint-Simon rendered a real service to art 
and to France that day. 

With the history of Marly during the reigns of Louis XV 
and Louis XVI, we have nothing to do. Marly fell at the 
Revolution, but not in the manner commonly supposed. In 
October, 1793, the gardens were devastated, and the furni- 
ture was sold at auction. Many statues were broken. A car- 
penter named Huzard constructed two cases in which he 
preserved the beautiful horses of Coustou, which were 
brought to Paris in 1794. In 1796 the Minister of Finance 
sent to the Palais Bourbon a certain number of the statues 
of Marly which had escaped the iconoclasts of 1793. In 
March, 1799, the state offered for sale the palace and park 
of Marly, stripped of all precious objects and partly de- 
stroyed. A purchaser was found, named Sagniel, who bought 
the domain for 412,361 francs, paying a certain sum down, 
and agreeing to pay the balance in instalments. In the cha- 
teau Sagniel set up a spinning-mill for wool stuffs and a 
cloth-manufactory, but the business did not prosper, and to 
^ The Cascade, ^ Saint-Simon, III, pp. 78-80. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

secure funds for the manufactory and for the payments due 
the state, he began to demoHsh the twelve pavilions of Marly. 
From the sale of the marbles and other materials he gained 
large sums, which he sank in his business, and he was com- 
pelled to borrow money. In 1806 he still owed the state 50,- 
000 francs. Then he offered to sell the chateau to M. Daru, 
an officer of the Household of the Emperor Napoleon, threat- 
ening at the same time to demolish it unless he received his 
price. Daru refused to buy, and the inhabitants of Marly, 
fearing that Sagniel would carry out his threat, addressed 
a petition to the emperor, asking him to prevent the final 
destruction of the chateau. On the 14th of June, 1806, Napo- 
leon sent Fouche with an order to stop the destruction of 
Marly, but in the meanwhile Sagniel had paid his 50,000 
francs to the state, and could therefore do as he pleased with 
his own. The emperor then offered to purchase the cha- 
teau, but Sagniel at once demanded so high a price that 
the emperor abandoned the matter. Sagniel continued his 
destruction, and laid Marly low. When he had ruined all, 
and sold all, and swept away completely one of the most 
splendid examples of the French art of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, he sold the land in 18 10 to a certain M. Andryane for 
288,000 francs, by whom it was sold in 181 1 to Napoleon I 
for 400,000 francs. To-day Marly is a farm of the state, 
and is rented at 2500 francs a year. 

Nothing remains of the Marly of the Sun King save the 
ruined basin of the Abreuvoir. Into it the teamsters drive 
their tired horses to water; behind it stands a stone wall, 
beyond which once lay the gardens of the Grand Monarch, — 
with their broad terraces and their marble statues, with their 
flashing fountains and their glittering pavilions, — where now 
rise the woods, dark and cool and silent, growing as they 
grew of old in those distant days before Louis XIV brought 
to the quiet valley his architects, his artists, and his millions. 

144 



Ill 

THE KING 



10 



THE SERVICE OF THE KING 

ELEVEN grand services were attached to the king's 
person: (i) the reHgious service, directed by the 
grand almoner; (2) the Maison du Roi,^ directed 
by the grand master of the Household, together 
with the first maitre d' hot el; (3) the Chamber, Antechamber, 
and Cabinet, under the orders of the grand chamberlain; (4) 
the Wardrobe, directed by the grand master of the Ward- 
robe; (5) the Stables,^ governed by the grand equerry and 
the first equerry; (6) the Hunting-Train and Kennels,^ di- 
rected by the grand huntsman; (7) the Buildings, under the 
control of the superintendent of Buildings; (8) the Journeys, 
directed by the grand marshal of lodgings; ^ (9) the King's 
Guard,^ under the orders of the officers of the Maison Mili- 
taire; (10) the Police, directed by the grand provost of 
France; (11) the Ceremonies, directed by the grand master 
of ceremonies, a post demanding, on the part of the person 
who filled it, great tact and a thorough knowledge of rank 
and etiquette. 

Let us consider now the organization of the services of 

^All that pertains to the Maison marshal of lodgings to assign 

du Roi has been given in the chap- apartments to the courtiers who 

ter on the Grand Commun. followed the king to Marly, to 

^The organization of the Stables Fontainebleau, etc., or to the army, 
and Hunting-Train will be found * The King's Guard has been de- 
in the chapters devoted to those scribed in the chapter on the Court- 
subjects, yards. 

' It was the business of the grand 

147 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

the Chamber, Antechamber, and Cabinet, of the Wardrobe, 
and of the Chapel. 

THE CHAMBER AND ANTECHAMBER 

The service of the Chamber was directed by the grand cham- 
berlain, whose post was worth 800,000 livres; he had, how- 
ever, but 3600 livres of wages, and the rest of the revenue 
came from profits and various rights. The same was true of 
all the chief posts at court; the salaries were small and the 
perquisites enormous. The grand chamberlain had under 
his orders 4 first gentlemen of the Chamber, 24 gentlemen 
of the Chamber, and 24 pages of the Chamber, the latter 
being employed in the king's service with the pages of the 
Stables. There were also 4 first valets de chamhre, 32 valets 
de chamhre, 16 ushers, 12 cloak-bearers, 2 gun-bearers, 8 
barbers, 3 watchmakers, i dentist, 6 gargons^ 2 chair-bearers, 
10 furniture-men. 

" The king treated his valets well," says Saint-Simon, 
" above all those of the Household. It was among them that 
he felt most at ease, and that he unbosomed himself the most 
familiarly, especially to the chiefs. Their friendship and 
their aversion have often had grand results. They were 
unceasingly in a position to render good and bad offices ; thus 
they recalled those powerful enfranchised slaves of the Ro- 
man emperors, to whom the senate and the great people paid 
court and basely truckled. These valets during Louis XIV's 
reign were not less courted. The ministers, even the most 
powerful, openly studied their caprices, and the princes of the 
blood, not to mention people of lower grade, did the same. 
The majority were accordingly insolent enough, and if you 
could not avoid their insolence, you were forced to put up 
with it." 1 

The three first valets de chamhre who had gained the king's 
^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 368. 
148 




„-„iiiiTTii 




The Service of the King 



confidence most fully were Blouin, Niert, and, above all, 
Bontemps, governor of Versailles. The latter was an ex- 
cellent servant, and stood so well with the king that he was 
one of the witnesses at the marriage of the Grand Monarch 
and Madame de Maintenon. 

There was likewise the music of the Chamber, controlled 
by two superintendents, and consisting of composers, singers, 
musicians, 24 violins, 12 trumpeters, 4 drummers, 4 fife- 
players, etc. To the service of the Chamber belonged also 
the king's medical attendants, a first doctor, a doctor in 
ordinary, 8 doctors serving by the quarter, a first surgeon, 
a surgeon in ordinary, 8 surgeons serving by the quarter, and 
the physicians in the infirmary of the Maison du Roi. The 
king's first doctor during the last twenty years of his life was 
M. Fagon, who owed his appointment to the influence of 
Madame de Maintenon. " Daquin, first doctor of the king 
and creature of Madame de Montespan, had lost nothing of 
his credit by her removal, but had never been able to get on 
well with Madame de Maintenon, who looked coldly upon all 
the friends of her predecessor. Daquin had a son, an abbe, 
and wearied the king with solicitations on his behalf. Madame 
de Maintenon seized the opportunity, when the king was 
more than usually angry with Daquin, to obtain his dismissal ; 
it came upon him like a thunderbolt. On the previous even- 
ing the king had spoken to him for a long time as usual, 
and had never treated him better. All the court was aston- 
ished also. Fagon, a very skilful and learned man, was ap- 
pointed in his place at the instance of Madame de Main- 
tenon." 1 

In the ^tat de la France (1712) mention is made, in con- 
nection with the service of the Chamber, of the valets whose 
business it was to take care of the pointers and the setters, 
and the birds, which the king kept in his smaller cabinets. 

^ Saint-Simon, I, p. 34. 
149 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

The dogs were allowed 1446 livres a year for their support, 
a sum which included the wages of their valets, and the 
royal pastry-cook sent them seven biscuits each day. The 
service of the Antechamber required only two ushers. 

THE CABINET 

The personnel of the Cabinet consisted of 2 ushers, 4 secre- 
taries, 3 interpreters of foreign languages, 2 readers, one of 
whom was Racine, a historiographer, and many couriers. 
To this service were attached also the persons in charge of 
the king's collections of medals and jewels, and the custo- 
dians of the crown furniture. 

One of the most useful men in the service of the Cabinet 
was the king's private secretary, of whom Saint-Simon has 
left the following portrait : " Rose, secretary in the king's 
cabinet, died, aged about eighty-six, at the commencement of 
the year 1701. For nearly fifty years he had held the office of 
the ' pen,' as it is called. To have the ' pen ' is to be a public 
forger, and to do what would cost anybody else his life. This 
office consists in imitating the handwriting of the king so 
exactly that the real cannot be distinguished from the coun- 
terfeit. In this manner are written all the letters that the 
king ought or wishes to write with his own hand, but which, 
nevertheless, he will not take the trouble to write. Sover- 
eigns and people of high rank, even generals and others of 
importance, employ a secretary of this kind. It is not pos- 
sible to make a great king speak with more dignity than 
did Rose; nor with more fitness to each person, and upon 
every subject. The king signed all the letters that Rose 
wrote, and the characters were so alike that it was impossible 
to find the smallest difference. Many important things had 
passed through the hands of Rose. He was extremely faith- 
ful and secret, and the king put entire trust in him. 

" Rose was a little man, neither fat nor lean, with a toler- 

150 



The Service of the King 



ably handsome face, keen expression, piercing eyes spark- 
ling with cleverness; a little cloak, a satin skullcap over his 
gray hairs, a smooth collar, almost like an abbe's, and his 
pocket-handkerchief always between his coat and his vest. 
He used to say it was nearer his nose there. He laughed very 
freely at the foreign princes, and always called the dukes 
with whom he was familiar, ' Your Ducal Highness,' in 
ridicule of the sham Highnesses. He was extremely neat and 
brisk, and full of sense to the last; he was a sort of per- 
sonage." ^ 

THE WARDROBE 

The service of the Wardrobe was directed by a grand master, 
who had under his orders 2 masters of the Wardrobe, 4 first 
valets, 16 valets, 4 gargons ordinaires, a cravat-starcher 
whose business it was to place, each morning, the diamonds 
and ruffles on the wrist-bands of His Majesty's shirts, 26 
tailors, bootmakers, jewelers, embroiderers, etc., and 2 laun- 
drymen. As has been said, in connection with the chateau, 
the rooms of the Wardrobe faced the marble court on the 
south side, below the Hall of the King's Guards. 

THE RELIGIOUS SERVICE 

The service of the chapel was directed by the grand almoner 
of France, under whom served a first almoner, a master of 
the Oratory, the king's confessor, 8 almoners serving by 
the quarter, a chaplain in ordinary, 8 chaplains serving by 
the quarter, who were to say a low mass each day before the 
king, 8 clerks of the chapel, 2 porters of the chapel, and a 
sacristan. The music was conducted by a master of the 
chapel music, having under his orders 4 masters of music 
serving by the quarter, 4 organists serving also by the quar- 
ter, 4 pages, 90 choristers, and 19 musicians. 

" The music of the chapel," says Saint-Simon, " was much 
^ Saint-Simon, I, p. 204. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

superior to that of the opera, and to all the music of Europe, 
and at Christmas it surpassed itself. There was nothing so 
magnificent as the decoration of the chapel, or the manner 
in which it was lighted. It was full of people; the arches 
of the tribune were crowded with the court ladies. There 
was nothing so surprising as the beauty of the spectacle. The 
ears were charmed also." ^ 

Of the eleven grand services affecting the king's person the 
essential facts as to personnel and organization have now 
been given, here or elsewhere, except in the cases of the fol- 
lowing four : the Buildings, the Journeys, the Police, the 
Ceremonies. A chapter will be devoted to the Ceremonies 
further on, and the Police can be briefly disposed of by say- 
ing that it was the duty of the grand provost to assume cer- 
tain responsibilities for the guarding of the park and palace 
which did not fall to the Swiss Guards. 

The superintendent of Buildings had under his charge 
much more than the royal palaces, but it is only with the 
latter that we have to do. The king had long since ceased 
to reside at the Louvre or the Tuileries. Meudon had been 
given to Monseigneur, and St. Cloud to Monsieur. Choisy, 
which became later a royal palace, was then the property of the 
Grande Mademoiselle, and St. Germain had been turned over 
temporarily to the King and Queen of England. Louis XIV, 
therefore, during the last thirty years of his life, lived first 
of all at Versailles, the seat of government, then at Marly, 
his favorite hermitage, at Trianon, at Fontainebleau, and at 
Compiegne. Whatever works were undertaken at these va- 
rious palaces, it was within the province of the superintendent 
of Buildings to supervise them and hasten their execution, 
and as His Majesty was continually constructing and de- 
molishing on a large scale, the post was no sinecure. 

^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 337. 




Louis XIII crowned by Victory 



The Service of the King 



As for the Journeys, those to Compiegne and Fontaine- 
bleau took place at fixed times in each year : Compiegne, in 
the spring ; Fontainebleau, in the autumn, and the stay of the 
court at the latter residence lasted usually six weeks. Owing 
to the number of the courtiers and the immense retinue in at- 
tendance, these removals from one chateau to another were 
very costly. A trip to Fontainebleau sometimes cost more 
than 400,000 livres. When the king's civil household (be- 
tween 3000 and 4000 persons), the households of the royal 
family and of the princes of the blood, the world of courtiers, 
the train of lackeys and valets, the army of cooks and candle- 
makers, cobblers, tailors, and dealers of every description, 
were on the march, some 15,000 or 20,000 people in all, the 
cortege of the Grand Monarch advanced like an Oriental 
court ; " one had to take the post in advance to go anywhere." 

The journeys to Marly were much more frequent, twice 
a month at first, and for three days at a time, from Wednes- 
day to Saturday, for the king returned to spend Sunday at 
Versailles, which was his parish. Later on the king went to 
Marly once a week for two or three days, and sometimes 
remained there in the summer for several weeks. He paid 
all the expenses of the journeys to Marly, but the number of 
persons who were invited was very much smaller than on the 
journeys to Compiegne and Fontainebleau, where all the 
court, unless specially excluded, had the right to follow him. 



153 



II 

HIS DAILY LIFE 

THE Due de Saint-Simon deserves great credit for 
having written in his Memoirs that often-quoted 
chapter on the daily Hfe of the Grand Monarch. 
For him it was a laborious and thankless task. 
" But what determines me," he adds, " is that details weary- 
ing, nay annoying, to instructed readers, who have been wit- 
nesses of what I relate, soon escape the knowledge of pos- 
terity; and that experience shows us how much we regret 
that no one takes upon himself a labor, in his own time so 
ungrateful, but in future years so interesting, by which 
princes, who have made quite as much stir as the one in 
question, are characterized." ^ Valuable as Saint-Simon's 
chapter is, it will be necessary to supplement his details with 
others taken from the Etat de la France if one would see 
clearly those unrivaled masterpieces of etiquette, the lever 
and coucher of Louis XIV. 

The chief divisions of the king's day were as follows : 
the lever, the morning, the council, the dinner, the afternoon, 
the supper, the evening, the coucher. 

THE LEVER 

Before His Majesty awoke, the princes of the blood, the chief 

nobles, the officers of the crown, and the officers of the 

* Saint-Simon, III, p. ig. 



His Daily Life 

Chamber assembled in the Icing's grand antechamber (now 
the (Eil-de-Bceuf), to await the lever. In that sumptuous 
antechamber this throng of men, in stately periwigs and 
brilliant habits, glittering with jewels, moved quietly to and 
fro, conversing in low tones, gathering about those who 
seemed likely to have favors to bestow, smiling at some 
anecdote or scrap of scandal, saluting one another as grace- 
fully as possible, watching one another out of the corners 
of their eyes, and glancing expectantly toward the white- 
and-gold doors beyond which was the founder and preserver 
of their fortunes, the fountainhead of riches and honors and 
all rank. Each one of them had had his own lever, attended 
by lesser lights, from which each had come to the lever of the 
king. It was necessary that they should be in the royal 
antechamber by eight o'clock. 

" The king usually awoke at the time he had named the 
evening before at his coucher, but if he did not wake at the 
hour he had given, the first valet de chambre woke him. In 
the morning, the first valet de chambre on duty for the quar- 
ter, who slept in the chamber of His Majesty, rose ordinarily 
an hour before the king, went quietly out of the chamber of 
His Majesty, and dressed himself in one of the antechambers. 
About a quarter of an hour before the king was awakened, 
that is about a quarter to eight, the first valet de chambre 
returned quietly into the chamber of His Majesty with an 
officer or gargon of the Quartermaster's Department, who 
came to make a fire, if it was spring or fall, or to place more 
wood on the fire, if it was winter. At the same time the 
gargons of the Chamber quietly opened the blinds of the 
windows, and removed the night-lamp ^ and candle, which 
had burned all night. They removed also the collation for 
the night (consisting of bread, wine, and water, plates and 

^The night-lamp consisted of a wick placed in a large piece of 

yellow wax. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

napkins, a cup, and a cup for the trial), and took away the 
camp-bed of the first valet de chambre. This being done^ 
all retired with the exception of the first valet de chambre. 
When the palace clock began to strike eight, he approached 
the king's bed,^ and said to the monarch, ' Sire, it is the hour/ 
Then he went to open the door for the gargons of the Cham- 
ber, one of whom had gone a quarter of an hour before to ^ 
summon the grand chamberlain and the first gentleman of the 
Chamber on duty, if they were not already in the antecham- 
ber, while another had gone to bid the Goblet and the Bouche 
bring the king's breakfast; a third took possession of the 
king's door to admit into the chamber only those persons 
who, from their rank or on account of the offices they held,, 
were permitted to enter when the king was awake, but still 
in bed." ^ Both sides of the double door were opened only 
for Monseigneur and for the princes of the blood ; for others 
but one was opened for each person admitted, and closed 
again immediately. People never knocked, but scratched 
lightly on the panel. The entrees which preceded the general 
entrance of the courtiers were four : ( i ) the entree familiere, 
for the princes ; ( 2 ) the grande entree, for the great officers, 
of the crown; (3) the first entree, for those who on account 
of their posts had the right of entrance; (4) the entree of the 
Chamber, for the officers of the Chamber. 

The entree familiere took place as soon as the king was 
awake, and the persons who entered were Mgr. le Grand 
Dauphin, his sons, the Due de Bourgogne and the Due de 
Berry, Monsieur, the king's brother, the Due du Maine and 
the Comte de Toulouse, sons of the king and Madame de 

^ The canopy of the king's bed gold, with curtains at each corner, 

was not arranged as it is at present Until the king woke, the curtains 

{a la duchesse), but extended over were closed. At the four corners, 

the whole bed, and was supported of the canopy were white plumes, 

by four posts covered with hang- *!6tat de la France (1712). 
ings of red velvet embroidered in 



His Daily Life 

Montespan, and M. le Due, grandson of the Grand Conde. 
It was their time to speak to the king, and if any one of them 
liad anything to ask of him, the rest stood aside. 

The grandes entrees followed almost immediately, that is, 
by a quarter past eight, and the persons admitted were the 
grand chamberlain, the first gentleman of the Chamber, the 
grand master of the Wardrobe, the masters of the Wardrobe, 
the first valet and other officers of the Wardrobe, who car- 
ried the king's clothing, the first doctor, the first surgeon, 
and, as long as she lived, the nurse who had cared for the 
king in his infancy. " The latter kissed the king; the doctor 
and the surgeon rubbed him and often changed his shirt, 
because he was in the habit of sweating a great deal." ^ 
Prom time to time the king granted the grandes entrees to 
certain persons as a special favor, as to M. de Lauzun, to the 
Marechal de Boufflers, etc., and the noblemen thus distin- 
guished entered with the grand chamberlain and the others. 

" While the king was still in bed, the first valet de chambre, 
holding in his right hand a flagon of spirits of wine, poured 
it upon His Majesty's hands, under which he held with his 
left hand a basin of silver-gilt. The grand chamberlain, 
or the first gentleman of the Chamber, presented the vase 
of holy water to His Majesty, who took it, making the sign 
of the cross. If the princes or nobles present had anything 
to say to the king, they could speak to him at this time." ^ 
Usually some one desired to speak to the sovereign for a mo- 
ment, but if not, the grand chamberlain presented a prayer- 
book to the king, and the princes and nobles passed into the 
king's cabinet. After a short religious service, during which 
the king repeated several prayers, and which did not last 
more than a quarter of an hour. His Majesty ordered the 
princes and nobles to be summoned from the cabinet, and 
they reentered the bedchamber. 

* Saint-Simon, III, p. 21. ^ Etat de la France (1712). 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XiV 

" Before the king rose, the Sieur Quentin, his barber, 
who had charge of the wigs, came to present to His Majesty- 
two wigs of different lengths, and the king chose the one 
which pleased him for the day. As soon as he had gotten 
out of bed, the king put on his slippers, which were presented 
by the first valet de chamhre. The grand chamberlain, or 
the first gentleman of the Chamber, handed His Majesty 
his dressing-gown; but in their absence the first valet de 
chamhre could present the dressing-gown also. Standing 
erect, the king again took the holy water, and then walked 
to his arm-chair, which was placed In the spot where His 
Majesty was accustomed to dress. When the king had 
passed outside the balustrade, a valet of the Wardrobe en- 
tered, and took from an arm-chair near the bed the king's 
knee-breeches and his sword." ^ 

As soon as the king had seated himself in his arm-chair, 
the petit lever began. Saint-Simon cuts this short, as fol- 
lows : " Every other day we saw him shave himself, and he 
had a little short wig in which he always appeared, even in 
bed, and on medicine days. He often spoke of the chase, 
and sometimes said a word to somebody. No toilet-table was 
near him; he had simply a mirror held before him." ^ This 
is a very meager account of the mechanism of the petit lever; 
and it is necessary to turn to the Etat de la France for details : 

" Then the grand chamberlain, or the first gentleman of 
the Chamber, or, in their absence, the barber, removed the 
nightcap from the king's head and handed it to a valet of 
the Wardrobe. The king shaved himself; and the first valet 
de chamhre, who had received a mirror from a garcon of 
the Chamber, held it before His Majesty. While he was 
shaving, the king asked for the first entree, and the first 
gentleman of the Chamber repeated the words aloud to the 
gargon of the Chamber who was at the door. 

^Etat de la France (1712). ^Saint-Simon, III, p. 21. 

158 



His Daily Life 

" The first entree began at that moment, that is to say, 
when the gargon of the Chamber allowed those persons to 
enter, as soon as they presented themselves, whose offices gave 
them that right, or who had received it, in some few in- 
stances by special privilege. These persons were the secre- 
taries of the Cabinet, the first valets of the Wardrobe, the 
two readers of the Chamber, the doctor in ordinary, the sur- 
geon in ordinary, the intendant of the crown furniture, cer- 
tain old officers to whom the king had granted the right as 
though they still held their posts, etc. When the king was 
shaved, the Sieur Quentin presented to him the wig for his 
lever, ^ which was shorter than the one which His Majesty 
usually wore during the rest of the day. When he had put 
on his wig, and as the officers of the Wardrobe approached 
to dress him, the king asked for the entree of the Chamber. 
The ushers of the Chamber entered and took their post at 
the king's door,^ replacing the gargon of the Chamber. With 
them entered also the valets of the Chamber, the cloak-bear- 
ers, the gun-bearer, the other officers of the Chamber, and the 
ushers of the Cabinet." ^ 

At this moment the petit lever ended, and the grand lever 
began. One of the ushers of the Chamber placed himself 
at the king's door, while the other approached the first gen- 
tleman of the Chamber and whispered in his ear the names 
of the people of quality who were in the grand antechamber 
( for example, the names of the cardinals, archbishops, ambas- 
sadors, dukes, peers, governors of provinces, presidents of 
parliaments, marshals of France, etc.), and the first gentle- 

^ This statement does not agree himself says, in 1717 from the re- 

with that of Saint-Simon, namely, gent, and without the grande entree 

that the king wore his short wig in he could not have seen the king in 

bed; but the Etat de la France is bed. 

probably correct, for the reason ^ The door leading from the royal 
that while Louis XIV lived Saint- bedchamber to the grand ante- 
Simon did not have the grande chamber. 
entree. He only obtained it, as he 'Etat de la France (1712). 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

man of the Chamber repeated these names to the king. The 
king immediately ordered that these people should be ad- 
mitted, or, without giving the order, said nothing to the con- 
trary. The usher, after transmitting this order to his com- 
rade at the door, took his place before the king, and stood 
ready to arrange the crowd. The entrees followed. " These 
entrees," says Saint-Simon, " called simply entrees, were 
purely personal ; no appointment or charge gave them. They 
conferred the right to see the king at his rising, after the 
grandes entrees, and also to see him, but under difficulties, 
during all the day and evening." ^ 

" The usher at the door allowed certain persons, for whom 
there was a general order, to enter as soon as he saw them, 
as the Due de Vendome, etc., and at the same time he per- 
mitted the officers of the Maison du Roi to enter without 
asking permission for them, because no permission was 
needed for those officials. Then he permitted the nobility 
to enter, but with some discretion, according to their rank, 
or the importance of the posts they held. It was the duty 
of the usher to ask the name and rank of all persons whom 
he did not know, and it was not proper for the person ques- 
tioned to find fault with him, since it was his duty to know 
these facts about all who entered. 

" Meanwhile the king was dressing, and commenced by 
putting on his stockings. A valet of the Wardrobe handed 
the under-stockings and garters to the first valet of the 
Wardrobe, by whom the stockings were presented to the 
king, and His Majesty drew them on himself. A valet of the 
Wardrobe presented the knee-breeches, which had silk stock- 
ings attached; and a gargon of the Wardrobe put on the 
king's shoes, which were ornamented with diamond buckles. 
Two pages of the Chamber took away the slippers, while 
the first valet of the Wardrobe presented the garters with 
their diamond buckles, which the king fastened himself." ^ 

^Saint-Simon, III, p. 8i. ^ Etat de la France (1712). 

160 



His Daily Life 

His Majesty then asked for his breakfast, which was 
brought by the ofificers of the Bouche and Goblet on a ser- 
vice of porcelain and gold; but whenever the king drank, 
the formalities of the trial (which have already been de- 
scribed in the chapter on the Grand Commun) had to be 
taken. 

" After the breakfast, the king removed his dressing- 
gown, and the master of the Wardrobe drew off his night- 
dress, holding it by the right sleeve, while the first valet of 
the Wardrobe held it by the left; the night-dress was then 
handed to one of the officers of the Wardrobe. Before the 
removal of his night-dress, the king had taken from it the 
relics that he wore day and night, and had given them to the 
first valet de chambre. This valet carried them into the king's 
cabinet, placed them in a little sack on a table with the 
king's watch, and stood guard over the watch and relics until 
the king entered the cabinet. — 

" A valet of the Wardrobe, meanwhile, brought the king's 
shirt, which had been warmed if the weather was cold. If 
Mgr. le Dauphin was at the lever at that moment, the grand 
chamberlain, or the first gentleman of the Chamber, or the 
grand master of the Wardrobe, received the shirt from the 
valet of the Wardrobe, and presented it to the dauphin to 
give to the king; in the absence of the dauphin, one of these__\ 
officers presented the shirt to the Due de Bourgogne, or to 
the Due de Berry, or to the Due d' Orleans. For other 
princes of the blood the shirt was not passed to the grand 
chamberlain, or to the first gentleman of the Chamber, but 
was handed by the valet of the Wardrobe directly to the 
prince, who, before presenting it to the king, placed his hat, 
gloves, and cane in the hands of the valet. If no princes 
of the blood were present, the grand chamberlain, or the 
first gentleman of the Chamber, or the grand master of the 
Wardrobe handed the shirt to the king. While the king 
was removing his night-dress and putting on his shirt, two 

" i6i 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

valets of the Chamber stood beside his arm-chair, holding 
up his dressing-gown to conceal him from the crowd. 

" The king then rose from his chair. The valets of the 
Wardrobe brought the sword, the vest, and the cordon bleu. 
The grand master of the Wardrobe fastened the sword at the 
king's side, put on the vest, and placed over it the blue ribbon, 
at the end of which were attached the cross of the Order 
of St. Esprit in diamonds and the cross of the Order of 
St. Louis, with its small red ribbon; both crosses hung be- 
side the sword. A valet of the Wardrobe handed the king's 
coat to the grand master of the Wardrobe, and the latter 
assisted His Majesty in putting it on. If by chance, as 
sometimes happened when the king was with the army, none 
of the great officers of the crown were at the lever^ then all 
the various articles of clothing were presented to the king 
by the valets of the Wardrobe. A number of cravats were 
then brought in a basket, and the king chose the one he 
wished. The master of the Wardrobe presented it to him, 
but the king fastened it himself. A valet of the Wardrobe 
brought three lace handkerchiefs on a tray of silver-gilt; the 
master of the Wardrobe presented the tray, and the king took 
one or more handkerchiefs, as he pleased. Whenever the king 
was in his dressing-gown, in bed, or indisposed, only the 
grand master of the Wardrobe could present the handker- 
chiefs; on other occasions the master of the Wardrobe pre- 
sented them. The master of the Wardrobe also presented to 
the king his hat, gloves, and cane." ^ 

While His Majesty was dressing, the nobility having the 
entrees were continually entering the bedchamber; the usher 
at the door was constantly coming and going to ask the first 
gentleman of the Chamber permission for one person or 
another, a permission which the first gentleman obtained 
from the king ; and the usher of the Chamber was arranging 
^Etat de la France (1712). 
162 



His Daily Life 

the crowd. Conversation among the nobility was carried on 
in very low tones, and if any one spoke too loud, the usher 
requested silence. The majority of persons having the 
grandes entrees had already passed into the king's cabinet, 
or otherwise the bedchamber, large as it was, could not have 
contained the crowd. The Grand Monarch dressed ^ sur- 
rounded by 150 or 200 people. 

" As soon as he was dressed," says Saint-Simon, " he 
prayed to God at the side of his bed, where all the clergy 
present knelt, the cardinals without cushions, all the laity 
remaining standing; the captain of the guards came to the 
balustrade during the prayer." ^ The Etat de la France com- 
pletes the details : " When he was dressed, the king passed 
immediately behind the balustrade, and knelt on two cushions 
which a valet of the Wardrobe had placed on the floor before 
an arm-chair near the bed. This valet stood inside the 
balustrade. The king took holy water and prayed to God, 
and, at the end, the grand almoner of France, or the first 
almoner, repeated in a low voice the prayer, Qucesumus om- 
nipotens Deus, ut famulus tuus Ludovicus rex noster, etc. 
The king again took holy water, and went out." ^ 

When the king, followed by the captain of the guards, 
passed from his bedchamber into his cabinet, the lever ended, 
and the morning began. 

As a masterpiece of etiquette the lever of the Grand Mon- 
arch has never been equaled, nor can its like ever be seen 
again, for the circumstances out of which it grew and of 
which it was the logical result can never again exist. In the 
splendor of its appointments, in the number of persons in- 

1 While the king dressed, a valet maker entered to wind and set the 

de chatnbre held a mirror before him, clocks in the chamber and cabinets, 

and if he rose early, and the morn- and His Majesty's watch, placed on 

ing was dark, valets holding silver a table in the cabinet in charge of 

candlesticks with lighted candles the first valet de chambre. 

stood at either side. ' Saint-Simon, III, p. 21. 

During the ^ra«rf/(?t'(fr the clock- ^ Etat de la France (1712). 

163 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

volved in its marvelous mechanism, and above all in the 
ease, the smoothness, the grace, the dignity, which a life- 
time of training gave to each motion and act of garcon, valet, 
grand officer, peer, or prince, it was unique. The Grand 
Monarch himself performed his part with unparalleled ma- 
jesty; and a man who rose and began his day under such 
auspices may be pardoned for considering himself apart from, 
and superior to, other men. 



THE MORNING 

" After the prayer, the king," says Saint-Simon, " passed 
into his cabinet. He found there or was followed by all 
who had the entree, a very numerous company, for it in- 
cluded everybody in any office. He gave orders to each for 
the day; thus within half a quarter of an hour it was known 
what he meant to do, and then all this crowd left directly. 
The bastards, a few favorites, and the valets alone were left. 
It was then a good opportunity for talking with the king, — 
for example, about plans of gardens and buildings, — and the 
conversation lasted more or less according to the persons 
engaged in it. All the court, meanwhile, waited for the king 
in the gallery, the captain of the guards being alone in the 
chamber, seated at the door of the cabinet. During this pause 
the king gave audiences when he wished to accord any, spoke 
to any persons he might wish to speak to secretly, and gave 
secret interviews to foreign ministers in presence of Torcy. 
They were called ' secret ' simply to distinguish them from 
the uncommon ones by the bedside. 

" The king then went to mass, where his musicians always 
sang an anthem. He came and went by the door of the 
cabinets into the gallery; and while he was going to and 
returning from mass, everybody spoke to him who wished, 
after apprising the captain of the guards, if they were not 

164 



His Daily Life 

distinguished. He did not go below ^ except on grand fetes 
or at ceremonies. . . . During all his life, the king failed 
only once in his attendance at mass; it was when he was 
with the army during a forced march. He missed no fast- 
day, unless really indisposed. Some days before Lent he 
declared publicly that he should be very much displeased if 
any one ate meat or gave it to others, under any pretext. 
He ordered the grand provost to look to this and report all 
cases of disobedience; but no one dared to disobey his com- 
mands, for they would soon have found out the cost. They 
extended even to Paris, where the lieutenant of police kept 
watch and reported. For twelve or fifteen years the king 
himself, however, had not observed Lent. At church he was 
very respectful. During his mass everybody was obliged to 
kneel at the Sanctus, and to remain so until after the com- 
munion of the priest, and if he heard the least noise, or saw 
anybody talking during the mass, he was much displeased. 
At the mass he said his chaplet (he knew no more), always 
kneeling, except at the Gospel. On Holy Thursday he served 
the poor at dinner. He took the communion five times a year, 
in the collar of the order,^ band, and cloak." ^ The cere- 
mony of the king's communion was as follows : " After the 
elevation of the mass, a folding-chair was pushed to the foot 
of the altar, and was covered with a piece of stuff, and then 
with a large cloth, which hung down before and behind. At 
the Pater, the chaplain rose and whispered in the king's ear 
the names of all the dukes who were in the chapel. The king 
named two, always the oldest, to each of whom the chaplain 
advanced and made a reverence. During the communion of 

^That is to say, on the ground presented the collar of the Order 
floor of the chapel. The king usu- of St. Esprit, and the officers of the 
ally sat in his tribune. Wardrobe fastened it above the 

' On such occasions the grand cloak, 
master of the Wardrobe placed the ^ Saint-Simon, III, p. 27. 
cloak on the king's shoulders, and 

165 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

the priest the king rose and went and knelt down on the 
marble floor behind this folding-chair and took hold of the 
cloth ; at the same time the two dukes, the elder on the right, 
the other on the left, each took hold of a corner of the cloth ; 
the two chaplains took hold of the other two corners of the 
same cloth, on the side of the altar, all four kneeling, and 
the captain of the guards also kneeling, and behind the king. 
The communion received and the oblation taken some mo- 
ments afterward, the king remained a little while in the same 
place, and then returned to his own, followed by the two 
dukes and the captain of the guards, who took theirs. If a son 
of France happened to be there alone, he alone held the right 
corner of the cloth, and nobody the other; and when M. le 
Due d' Orleans was there, and no son of France was present, 
M. le Due d'Orleans held the cloth in like manner. If a 
prince of the blood was present alone, however, he held the 
cloth, but a duke was called forward to assist him. He was 
not privileged to act without the duke." ^ 

" During the mass the ministers assembled in the king's 
chamber, where distinguished people could go and speak or 
chat with them. Upon returning from mass, the king amused 
himself a little, and asked almost immediately for the council. 
Then the morning was finished." ^ 

* THE COUNCIL 

" On Sunday, and often on Monday, there was a Council of 
State; on Tuesday, a Finance Council; on Wednesday, a 
Council of State; on Saturday, a Finance Council. Rarely 
were two held in one day, or any on Thursday or Friday. 
Once or twice a month there was a Council of Despatches on 
Monday morning; but the orders that the secretaries of state 
took every morning between the king's lever and his mass 

^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 2. ^ Idem, III, p. 22. 

166 



His Daily Life 

much abridged this kind of business. All the ministers were 
seated according to their rank, except at the Council of Des- 
patches, where all stood, except the sons of France, the 
chancellor, and the Due de Beauvilliers. 

" Thursday morning was almost always blank. It was 
the day for audiences that the king wished to give, often 
unknown to any one, back-stair audiences. It was also the 
grand day taken advantage of by the bastards ^ and the 
valets, because the king had nothing to do. On Friday after 
the mass the king was with his confessor, and the length 
of their audience was limited by nothing, and might last 
until dinner. On the mornings, at Fontainebleau, when there 
was no council, the king usually went from mass to the 
apartments of Madame de Maintenon, and so at Trianon and 
Marly. It was the time of their tete-a-tete without interrup- 
tion. Often on the days when there was no council the din- 
ner-hour was advanced, more or less, for the chase or the 
promenade. The ordinary hour was one o'clock; but if the 
council still lasted, then dinner waited, and nothing was said 
to the king." ^ 

THE DINNER 

The ceremony with which the King's Meat was brought from 
the Grand Commun to the palace, and the various duties of 
the officers of the Maison du Roi, have already been de- 
scribed in the chapter on the Grand Commun. The etiquette 
attending the preparation of the king's table has been men- 
tioned also. These arrangements were completed while the 
council was still in session. When the council broke up, the 
king passed from his cabinet into his bedchamber, where he 
dined in the presence of a crowd of nobles. 

" The dinner being ready, the principal courtiers entered ; 

^ The Due du Maine and the Comte de Toulouse. 
'" Saint-Simon, III, p. 23. 

167 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

then all who were known; and the first gentleman of the 
Chamber on duty informed the king. The dinner was al- 
ways au petit convert, that is, the king ate by himself in 
his chamber upon a square table in front of the middle win- 
dow. It was more or less abundant, for he ordered in the 
morning whether it was to be a * little ' or a * very little ' 
service ; but even at the latter there were always many dishes, 
and three courses without counting the fruit. 

" I have seen, but very rarely, Monseigneur and his sons 
standing at their dinners, the king not offering them a seat. 
I have continually seen there the princes of the blood and the 
cardinals. I have often seen there also Monsieur, either 
on arriving from St. Cloud to see the king, or arriving from 
the Council of Despatches (the only one he entered), give the 
king his napkin and remain standing. A little while after- 
ward, the king, seeing that he did not go away, asked him 
if he would not sit down ; he bowed, and the king ordered a 
seat to be brought for him. A stool was put behind him. 
Some moments after the king said, ' Nay then, sit down, my 
brother.' Monsieur bowed and seated himself until the end 
of the dinner,^ when he presented the napkin. At other times 
when he came from St. Cloud, the king, on arriving at table, 
asked for a plate for Monsieur, or asked him if he would 
dine. If he refused, he went away a moment after, and there 

^A manuscript in the library at "Entrees: i quartier de veau et 

Versailles gives the menu of one of une piece autour ; le tout de 20 

the king's dinners, for "two dishes, livres; — 12 pigeons pour tourte. 

two plates, five courses, and the " Petites entrees: 6 poulets fricas- 

hors-d'ceuvre," as follows : ses ; — 2 perdrix en hachis. 

" Potages: 2 chapons vieux pour " Quatre petites entrees hors- 

potage de sante; — 4 perdrix d'oeuvre: 3 perdrix au jus; — 6 

aux choux. tourtes a la braise ; — 2 dindons 

" Petits potages: 6 pigeonneaux grilles; — 3 poulets gras aux 

de voliere pour bisque; — i de truffes. 

cretes et beatilles. "Rot: 2 chapons gras; — 9 pou- 

" Deux petits potages hors- lets; — 9 pigeons; — 2 hetou- 

d'ceuvre: i chapon hache pour deaux; — 6 perdrix; — 4 tourtes." 

un; — I perdrix pour I'autre. Dussieux, II, p. 141. 

168 



His Daily Life 

was no mention of a seat; if he accepted, the king asked for 
a plate for him. The table was square, and Monsieur placed 
himself at one side, his back to the cabinet. Then the grand 
chamberlain, or the first gentleman of the Chamber, gave 
him drink and plates, taking them from him as he finished 
with them, exactly as he served the king; but Monsieur re- 
ceived all this attention with strongly marked politeness. 
When he dined thus with the king, he much enlivened the 
conversation. The king ordinarily spoke little at table unless 
some familiar courtier was near. It was the same at his 
lever. Ladies were scarcely ever seen at these dinners. I 
have, however, seen the Marechale de la Mothe, who came 
in because she had been accustomed to do so as governess 
to the Children of France, and who received a seat because 
she was a duchess. Grand dinners were very rare, taking 
place only on grand occasions, and then ladies were present." ^ 
The king made but two meals a day, for the breakfast 
which he took at his lever was a mere nothing. He had a 
hearty appetite, and was a heavy eater.^ " He ate so pro- 
digiously and so solidly morning and evening," says Saint- 
Simon, "that no one could get accustomed to see it." Fa- 
gon was continually preaching moderation in this respect, 
and squabbling continually with the officers of the Maison 
du Roi, who answered that it was their business to feed the 
king, and Fagon's to doctor him. He had to fight constantly 
the bad results of the king's overeating, and in spite of the 
unfavorable opinion of the doctor's methods, as given by 
Saint-Simon and the Palatine, a perusal of the Journal de 
la Sante du Roi convinces one that it required great skill 
on the part of Fagon to keep the Grand Monarch in good 

^ Saint-Simon, III, p. 24. their volume and extent, whence it 

"After the king's death, the post- came that he was such a great yet 

mortem threw some light on this uniform eater." Saint-Simon, II, 

subject. " His stomach above all p. 348. 

astonished, and also his bowels by 

169 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

health until his seventy-seventh year. At the last, Fagon 
was old and had lost his grip, and his treatment of the king 
in his final illness was undoubtedly a mistake. Fagon was 
more the master at Versailles than at Marly. At Versailles 
the king's dinner was ait petit convert, and his supper au 
grand convert, but at Marly both dinner and supper were 
au grand convert. The king loved the Marlys, though they 
frequently made him ill. There were three reasons for the 
king's continuing his course in spite of his doctor : his natural 
inclination, the delicious dishes that La Quintinie took pains 
to send him, and the fact that the courtiers desired to see 
him eat to advantage. " Temptation," said Fagon, " prevents 
him from restraining himself." 

" All the year round the king ate at supper a prodigious 
quantity of salad. His soups, several of which he partook 
of morning and evening, were full of gravy, and were of 
exceeding strength, and everything that was served to him 
was full of spice, to double the usual extent, and very strong 
also. This regimen and the sweetmeats together Fagon did 
not like, and sometimes while seeing the king eat, he would 
make most amusing grimaces, without daring, however, 
to say anything except now and then to Livry and Benoist. 
. , . The king never ate any kind of venison or water-fowl, 
but otherwise partook of everything, fete-days and fast-days 
alike, except that during the last twenty years of his life 
he observed some few days of Lent. . . . For many years 
he had drunk nothing but Burgundy wine, half mixed 
with water, and so old that it was used up, instead of the 
best champagne which he had used all his life.^ He would 
pleasantly say sometimes that foreign lords who were 
anxious to taste the wine he used were often mightily de- 
ceived. At no time had he ever drunk pure wine, or made 
use in any way of spirits, or even tea, coffee, or chocolate. 
^ That is, up to 1694, when Fagon substituted the Burgundy. 
170 



His Daily Life 

Upon rising, instead of a little bread and wine and water, 
he had taken for a long time two glasses of sage and veron- 
ica; often between his meals, and always on going to bed, 
glasses of water with a little orange-flower water in them, 
and always iced. Even on the days when he had medicine 
he drank this, and always also at his meals, between which 
he never ate anything except some cinnamon lozenges which 
he put into his pocket at his dessert, with some biscuits for 
the dogs he kept in his cabinets." ^ 

THE AFTERNOON 

" Upon leaving the table the king immediately entered his 
cabinet. That was the time for distinguished people to speak 
to him. He stopped at the door a moment to listen, then 
entered; very rarely did any one follow him, never without 
asking him for permission to do so, and for this few had the 
courage. If followed he placed himself in the embrasure of 
the window nearest to the door of the cabinet, which im- 
mediately closed of itself, and which you were obliged to 
open yourself on quitting the king. This was also the time 
for the bastards and the valets. The king amused himself 
by feeding his dogs,^ and remained with them more or less 
time, then asked for his wardrobe, changed before the very 
few distinguished people it pleased the first gentleman of the 
Chamber to admit there, and immediately went out by the 
back stairs into the court of marble to get into his coach. 
From the bottom of that staircase to the coach, any one spoke 
to him who wished. 

" The king was very fond of air and exercise, and when 

^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 347. at Marly, are to-day at the Louvre. 

' Desportes painted the portraits The dogs were named Diane, 

of the favorite setters and pointers Blonde, Bonne, Nonne, Ponne, 

of Louis XIV, and these pictures, Folk, and Mitte. 
formerly in the king's bedchamber 

171 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

deprived of them his health suffered; he had headaches and 
vapors caused by the undue use he had formerly made of 
perfumes, so that for many years he could not endure any, 
except the odor of orange-flowers; therefore if you had to 
approach anywhere near him you did well not to carry them. 
As he was but little sensitive to heat or cold, or even to rain,, 
the weather was seldom sufficiently bad to prevent his going- 
abroad. He went out for three objects : stag-hunting, once or 
more each week; shooting in his parks (and no man handled 
a gun with more grace or skill), once or twice each week; 
and walking in his gardens for exercise and to see his work- 
men. The stag-hunts were on an extensive scale. At Fon- 
tainebleau every one went who wished; elsewhere only those 
were allowed to go who had obtained the permission once for 
all, and those who had obtained leave to wear the justaucorps, 
a blue uniform with gold and silver lace, lined with red. 
The king did not like too many people at these hunts. He 
did not care for you to go if you were not fond of the chase. 
He thought that ridiculous, and never bore ill will to those 
who stopped away altogether." ^ 

For many years the king followed the hunt on horseback; 
but in 1683 he was thrown from his horse in the hunt at 
Fontainebleau, and broke his arm. Thereafter he hunted 
usually in a caleche, which in his case was a light chaise on 
two wheels, with a hood. He rode alone at full speed, driving 
his four horses with a grace and dexterity not equaled by 
the best coachmen. When he went to shoot in his parks, he 
was attended by pages and gun-bearers. 

In his promenades in the gardens of Versailles and Trianon 
all the courtiers could follow him, but elsewhere only those 
holding the chief posts were permitted to do so. In the 
latter years of his life the king frequently promenaded in 
his gardens in a wheeled chair, pushed by valets, with a 
^ Saint-Simon, III, p. 25. 
172 




Louis XIV in the Gardens of Trianon 



His Daily Life 

handle in front which enabled him to steer himself. The 
courtiers followed on foot, or in chairs of like pattern. The 
stag-hunts and the promenades were magnificent spectacles. 

On returning from hunting or driving, the king's coach 
pulled up at the steps of the marble courtyard, and from the 
moment that the Grand Monarch alighted from his coach 
until he reached his private staircase, any one was at liberty 
to speak to him. He went up to his bedchamber, changed his 
dress with the usual ceremonies, and passed into his cabinet, 
where he rested or worked for an hour or more. Then, 
followed by the captain of the guards, he went to the apart- 
ments of Madame de Maintenon, and on the way any one 
spoke to him who desired to do so. 



THE SUPPER 

" At ten o'clock his supper was served. The captain of the 
guards announced this to him. A quarter of an hour after, 
the king came to supper, and from the antechamber of 
Madame de Maintenon to the table, any one spoke to him who 
wished. The supper was always on a grand scale, the royal 
family (that is, the sons and daughters of France) at table, 
and a large number of courtiers and ladies present, sitting 
or standing, and on the evening before the journey to Marly 
all those ladies who wished to take part in it. That was 
called presenting yourself for Marly. Men asked in the 
morning, simply saying to the king, ' Sire, Marly.' In later 
years the king grew tired of this, and a valet wrote up in 
the gallery the names of those who asked. The ladies con- 
tinued to present themselves." ^ 

The supper was served in the first antechamber (between 
the Hall of the King's Guards and the (Eil-de~Bceuf) and 
w^ith much ceremony by the officers of the Maison du Roi. 

^ Saint-Simon, III, p. 26. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

This antechamber is not as large as some of the other private 
apartments of the king, and the crowd of courtiers, who 
stood while royalty supped, must have filled the room com- 
pletely. 

" In general," says the Palatine, " the king would have 
no persons at his table but members of the royal family; 
as for the princesses of the blood, there were so many of 
them that the ordinary table would not have held them,, 
and, indeed, when we were all there, it was quite full. The 
king used to sit in the middle, and had Monseigneur and the 
Due de Bourgogne at his right,^ and the Duchesse de Bour- 
gogne and the Duchesse de Berry at his left; on one of the 
sides Monsieur and I sat; and on the other, my son and his 
wife;^ the other parts of the table were reserved for the 
noblemen in waiting, who did not take their places behind 
the king, but opposite to him. When the princesses of the 
blood or any other ladies were received at the king's table, 
we were waited on, not by noblemen, but by other officers 
of the Maison du Roi. The king upon such occasions was 
waited on by his first maitre d'hotel. . . . The king. Mon- 
sieur, Monseigneur, and the Due de Berry were all great 
eaters. I have seen the king eat four platefuls of different 
soups, a whole pheasant, a partridge, a plateful of salad, 
mutton hashed with garlic, two good-sized slices of ham,, 
a dish of pastry, and afterward fruit and sweetmeats. The 
king and Monsieur were very fond of hard eggs." ^ At the 
conclusion of supper the king passed through the grand ante- 
chamber to his bedchamber. 

^ This does not agree with Saint- haps, any man outside of the royal 

Simon's statement, " Except at the family. 

army, the king never ate with any ^ The Due and Duchesse de 

man, under whatever circum- Chartres. 

stances." But as Saint-Simon him- * Memoirs of Elizabeth-Charlotte, 

self mentions Monsieur's dining Duchesse d'Orleans, pp. 67-68. 
with Louis XIV, he means, per- 

174 



His Daily Life 

THE EVENING 

" On leaving table," says Saint-Simon, " the king stopped 
less than a half-quarter of an hour with his back to the bal- 
ustrade at the foot of his bed. He found there in a circle all 
the ladies who had been at his supper, and who came there 
to wait for him a little before he left table, except the ladies 
who sat, who came out after him, and who, in the suite of the 
princes and princesses who had supped with him, advanced 
one by one and made him a curtsy, and filled up the remain- 
der of the standing circle; for a space was always left for 
them by the other ladies. The men stood behind. The king 
amused himself by observing the dresses and countenances 
of the ladies and the grace of their curtsies, said a word to 
the princes and princesses who had supped with him, and 
who closed the circle near him on either hand, then bowed to 
the ladies on right and left, bowed once or twice more as he 
went away, with a grace and majesty unparalleled, spoke 
sometimes, but very rarely, to some lady in passing, entered 
the first cabinet, where he gave the order, and then advanced 
to the second cabinet, the doors from the first to the second 
always remaining open. There he placed himself in an 
arm-chair; Monsieur, while he was there, in another; the 
Duchesse de Bourgogne, Madame (but only after the death 
of Monsieur), the Duchesse de Berry (after her marriage), 
the three bastard daughters,^ and Madame du Maine (when 
she was at Versailles), on stools on each side. Monseigneur, 
the Due de Bourgogne, the Due de Berry, the Due d'Orleans,^ 
the Due du Maine, the Comte de Toulouse, M. le Due (as 
the husband of Mme. la Duchesse), and afterward the two 

^ The Princesse de Conti, daugh- ters of the king and Madame de 

ter of the king and Mile, de la Val- Montespan. 

liere, and Mme. la Duchesse and " The Due de Chartres, who took 

the Duchesse de Chartres, daugh- the title at the death of his father. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

sons of M. du Maine, when they had grown a little, and 
D'Antin came also, all standing." ^ After spending about 
an hour in conversation with the royal family, the king said 
good night, and passed into his bedchamber for the ceremony 
of the coucher. 

THE COUCHER 

While the king was still in the cabinet with his family, two 
officers of the Goblet carried into the bedchamber the col- 
lation for the night, bread, wine, and water. A valet de 
chambre received this collation, and one of the officers of the 
Goblet made the trial before him; later on the valet de 
chambre made the trial himself in the presence of the first 
valet de chambre. Other valets placed the king's dressing- 
gown on an arm-chair, and the slippers before it, and in 
front of a second chair near the bed two cushions on which 
the king was to kneel at his prayers, as in the morning ; they 
prepared the night-lamp as well. Before the king came, the 
courtiers having the entrees entered the chamber, which was 
quite full. 

The grand coucher: ^ " On coming out of his cabinet, the 
king found at the door of the bedchamber the master of the 
Wardrobe, to whom he gave his hat, gloves, and cane, and 
by whom they were handed to a valet of the Wardrobe. The 
king unfastened his sword-belt, which the master of the 
Wardrobe took ofif, handing sword and belt to a valet of the 
Wardrobe, who carried them to the toilet-table. The usher 
of the Chamber advanced before the king, who went behind 
the balustrade to his bed, took holy water, and knelt on the 
cushions before the arm-chair to say his prayers. At the 
end, the almoner on duty, who held a lighted candle, re- 

^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 121. grand coucher was discontinued 

' Owing to an attack of gout the about 1705, and the court finished 
king had had for some time, the at the rising from supper. 

176 



His Daily Life 

peated in a low voice the prayer, Qiicesumus omnipotens Deus, 
ut famulus tuus Ludovicus rex noster, etc. The Icing toolc 
the holy water, making the sign of the cross, and rose from 
his knees. Then the first valet de chanibre, having taken the 
candle from the almoner, received from the king his watch, 
and the small bag containing the relics, and continued to 
walk before His Majesty. The usher made room for the 
king through the crowd from the balustrade to his chair, and 
having reached it. His Majesty was asked by the grand 
chamberlain, or by the first gentleman of the Chamber, to 
whom he wished the candle to be given." ^ 

As the bedchamber was well lighted, the candle was super- 
fluous, but it was one of those trifles in which the king ex- 
celled, and the giving of which he had raised to the rank of a 
fine art. His Majesty glanced over the assembly, and named 
the man he desired to honor. " It was an honor," says Saint- 
Simon, " which he bestowed sometimes upon one, sometimes 
upon another, according to his whim, but which, by his 
manner of bestowing it, was always coveted as a great dis- 
tinction." 

" The king then removed his blue ribbon ; the master of 
the Wardrobe drew off his coat and vest; and the king him- 
self took off his cravat. All these articles were handed to the 
officers of the Wardrobe. His Majesty seated himself, and 
the first valet de chambre unfastened the diamond buckle of 
the right garter, while the first valet of the Wardrobe did the 
same for the left. The valets of the Chamber drew off the 
king's shoes and knee-breeches, and the pages of the Cham- 
ber brought his slippers and dressing-gown." ^ 

The dressing-gown was held up before the king to con- 
ceal him from the crowd when he took off his shirt and put 
on his night-dress. The night-dress was presented by a 
prince of the blood, or by the grand chamberlain, with the 
^ Etat de la France ( 1712) . ^ Idem. 

177 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

same formalities with which the shirt had been presented at 
the lever. Having received from the grand chamberlain the 
little bag containing the relics, the king passed the cord about 
his neck, and put on his dressing-gown. Then he rose and 
said good night to the courtiers by a bow. The ushers of the 
Chamber cried aloud, " Gentlemen, pass on ! " ; and while the 
courtiers were retiring, the king stood by the chimneypiece, 
giving the order to the captain of the guards. Meanwhile 
the first valet de chambre had taken the candle from the 
nobleman to whom it had been given, and had presented it 
to one of his own friends, who had thus the privilege of 
remaining at the petit coucher. 

The petit coucher: There were now in the king's chamber 
the following persons : those who had the grandes entrees 
(who had been present in the morning when the king was 
still in bed) ; those having the first entree; the officers and 
valets of the Chamber and of the Wardrobe ; the first doctor 
and the surgeons; and, from time to time, certain nobles to 
whom the king had granted the privilege. 

" When the court had gone out, the king sat down on a 
folding-seat which had been prepared in front of the bal- 
ustrade of his bed, with a cushion before it. The barber 
removed His Majesty's wig and dressed his hair, and a 
valet de chambre held a mirror before the king. A valet 
of the Wardrobe brought the nightcap and handkerchiefs, 
and presented them to the grand master of the Wardrobe, 
who gave them to the king. A service of silver-gilt was then 
presented by the princes of the blood, that the king might 
wash his face and hands; in the absence of the princes, the 
grand chamberlain, the first gentleman of the Chamber, or 
the grand master of the Wardrobe could act for them. After 
washing, the king named to the grand chamberlain the hour 
at which he desired to be awakened in the morning, and 

178 



His Daily Life 

told the grand master of the Wardrobe what dress he would 
wear on the following day," ^ 

This closed the petit coucher, and the usher of the Chamber 
made all those having the entrees leave the chamber, and 
went out himself when the first gentleman had given the 
order for the lever on the morrow. The valets of the Ward- 
robe carried the king's clothing away to the rooms of the 
Wardrobe, and the valets of the Chamber lighted the grand 
chamberlain and the first gentleman through the antecham- 
bers. The first doctor left a moment later, and then there 
was nobody with the king but the first valet de chambre and 
the gargons of the Chamber. The latter prepared the king's 
bed, and also the camp-bed for the first valet de chambre. 

The king, meanwhile, went into his cabinet, where he re- 
mained more or less time, feeding his dogs and playing with 
them. The Sieur Antoine, the gun-bearer who had charge 
of the dogs, was present. Louis, in nightcap, dressing-gown, 
and slippers, could draw a long breath, if he liked, at last. 

When the king had gone to bed, the first valet de chambre 
closed the bed-curtains, while the gargons put out all the lights 
and lit the night-lamp; and after the gargons had gone out, 
the first valet de chambre closed the doors. Then, lighting 
his own candle, the first valet undressed, and got into his 
camp-bed before the gilded balustrade. Beyond that bal- 
ustrade, by the faint light, there loomed among the shadows 
a white-plumed canopy and crimson curtains. The Grand 
Monarch slept. 

^Etat de la France (1712). 



179 



Ill 

HIS METHOD OF WORK 

IN 1 66 1, when Louis announced his intention of being his 
own prime minister, the courtiers were at first aston- 
ished and then cynical. A young man of twenty-three, 
who had at hand all the appliances of pleasure, had in- 
formed the world that the first business of a king was work. 
The court smiled, and thinking that six months or a year 
would settle the matter, began to look about for a successor to 
Mazarin; but Louis never wavered, and persevered in his 
resolution for fifty-four years. 

In his Memoirs,^ designed for the instruction of Monsei- 
gneur, and prepared from his notes and under his eyes by 
Pellisson in 1670, Louis reveals himself. " It may happen, 
my son," he says, " that you will begin to read these Memoirs 
at an age when one usually fears rather than loves work, 
being too glad to have escaped from subjection to teachers 
and masters, and to have no more fixed hours, no more long 
and uncertain application. Here I will only tell you that it is 
always by work that one reigns, and that there is ingratitude 
to God, injustice and tyranny to men, in desiring the one 
without the other. Those conditions of royalty, which may 
sometimes seem hard and vexatious to you, would appear 
pleasant and easy if it were a question of attaining them. 

^ The original manuscripts were were published in 1806 by Treuttel 
confided by Louis XVI, in 1786, to & Wiirtz. 
the Comte de Grimoard. They 

180 




Dj prrmiiiion of Erann. dtmr.it f Co. 



Jean Baptiste Colbert 



His Method of Work 



... I made it a rule to work twice a day, even after dinner, 
at the despatch of ordinary business, not failing to apply my- 
self at any other time to whatever might arise unexpectedly. 
I cannot tell you how fruitful I immediately found that reso- 
lution. I felt my mind and my courage elevated. I was 
quite different. I discovered in myself that which I did not 
know, and I reproached myself with joy for having been so 
long ignorant of it. The first sense of timidity that comes 
with decision caused me pain, but it passed off in less than no 
time. It seemed to me then that I was, and was born to be, 
king." And in revealing the secret of his governing power 
to his son, the king adds : " I am aware that I diminish by 
so much the only, or almost the only, merit I can hope for 
in the world." 

The king held his councils, as he did everything else, with 
great regularity. At Versailles they met in his cabinet, but 
when he took medicine, or had the gout, he held them none 
the less, and they met in his bedchamber. Dangeau men- 
tions as an extraordinary fact, and quite without example, 
that on the 3d of November, 1692, the king went to spend a 
week at Marly, and gave his ministers leave of absence for 
that time. Pursuing his usual policy toward the nobility, 
the king kept them out of his councils, and chose his minis- 
ters from the middle class. They were responsible to him 
alone. Colbert, the greatest of them, and one of the great- 
est ministers France has ever had, died in 1683, and Louis 
never found his like again. His posts were divided between 
Seignelai, Louvois, and Pelletier. 

The Council of State was supreme over all the departments 
of government, being at once legislative, executive, and ju- 
dicial. It was divided into subordinate councils: the Coun- 
cil of the King, the Council of Finance, the Council of 
Despatches, the Council of Parties. Important questions of 
internal or foreign policy were settled in the Council of the 

181 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

King. The Council of Finance directed trade, agriculture, 
and public works, and was supposed to supervise the Con- 
troller-General of Finance ; it did so during the reign of Louis 
XIV, but later the Controller-General with his thirty-two 
intendants absorbed and managed the whole internal admin- 
istiation of the country, and this bureaucracy became an evil. 

The Council of State met on Sundays, Mondays, and 
Wednesdays ; the Council of Finance, on Tuesdays and Satur- 
days. On Mondays after dinner the king worked with Pelle- 
tier upon the fortifications, and every evening, in the apart- 
ments of Madame de Maintenon, he worked with Ponchar- 
train, the Minister of the Navy, or with Barbezieux, the Min- 
ister of War. He wrote his important letters himself, but 
every letter written in his name was read to him. As time 
went on, his power of work and his love of it increased, and in 
spite of the trammels of etiquette he despatched an immense 
amount of business each week. The concentration of the 
heads of all departments at the palace of Versailles enabled 
him to do this. " His constant residence at Versailles," says 
Saint-Simon, " caused a continual coming together of offi- 
cials and persons employed, which kept everything going, 
got through more business and gave more access to min- 
isters and their various bureaus in one day than would have 
been possible in a fortnight had the court been in Paris. 
The benefit to his service of the king's precision was incred- 
ible. It imposed orderliness on everybody, and secured 
despatch and facility in his affairs." 

The king did not grant audiences too easily; he could not 
do so, or he would have been overwhelmed by them. Con- 
sidering the size of the court, and the press of business on his 
hands, it must be admitted that access to him was not diffi- 
cult; and, as has been mentioned, there were six times in 
the day when any of his subjects could address him and 
present petitions. Although these latter opportunities were 

182 



His Method of Work 



each of brief duration, — while he passed through the gallery 
and state apartments to and from chapel in the morning, 
across the marble courtyard to and from his coach in the 
afternoon, and through the antechambers to and from the 
apartments of Madame de Maintenon in the evening, — yet 
his life was so regular, and he came and went with such un- 
varying punctuality, that it was a simple matter for a peti- 
tioner to calculate by his watch the movements of the king, 
and to take his position accordingly. 

Louis was not only a man of system, but a man of detail. 
Saint-Simon sneers at the latter : " Naturally fond of trifles, 
he unceasingly occupied himself with the most petty details 
of his troops, his household, his palaces, his table expenses." 
Saint-Simon considered such matters beneath a man of rank, 
but the king did not think so ; and more than one nobleman 
at Versailles might have followed Louis's example in this 
respect with profit. To govern France, to govern Spain, to 
impose his supremacy upon Europe, and to push his schemes 
of colonization and empire in North America, Madagascar, 
India, and Siam, demanded of the king, and of his ministers, 
enormous labor; but, notwithstanding that, it appears that 
the petty details of troops, palaces, and kitchens were not 
neglected. 

In short, if the monarchical machine ran well, no small 
part of the success was due to the fact that Louis himself 
did all his work each day with clock-like regularity; and 
to dub him a king of fetes and reviews is to render him scant 
justice. With the exception of Napoleon, France has never 
had a sovereign who worked harder or more regularly than 
Louis XIV. " There are only he and I," said the emperor. 
" He had 400,000 men under arms, and a King of France 
who could collect such a host could be no ordinary man." 



183 



IV 

HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER 

IT is easier to criticize Louis XIV than to understand 
him. He raised the French monarchy to its zenith, 
and the collapse of that monarchy seventy-four years 
after his death was, and still is, a severe blow to his 
reputation. He will never be a popular hero; but because 
his ideals and theories no longer move the world, it would 
be as absurd to suppose that he was not in his day in touch 
with the spirit of his age as to fancy that the powerful im- 
pression he made on his contemporaries was due solely to 
his rank and position. Neither his predecessor nor his suc- 
cessor enjoyed anything like it. Let us consider him under 
three aspects — as a man, as a monarch, as an idealist; in 
other words, as Louis de Bourbon, as the King of France and 
Navarre, and as the Sun King. 

LOUIS DE BOURBON 

That the eldest son of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria was 
physically fit for the post he filled is without question. The 
evidence on that point is overwhelming. " The stature of a 
hero," says Saint-Simon, his bitterest antagonist, and the last 
man in the world to be accused of flattery in this connection, 
" his whole figure so naturally endowed with majesty that 
it was equally evident in the slightest gestures and the most 
ordinary actions, without any air of pride, but simple gravity; 

184 ■ 




•ion 0/ Bran,,, CUmnt f- Co 



Louis XIV 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

so admirably well made and proportioned that sculptors 
might have sought him for their model ; a perfect face, with 
the finest countenance and the grandest air that ever man 
had. All these advantages were enhanced by the most 
natural grace, and, what has been given to no other, he wore 
this air of grandeur and majesty in his dressing-gown, to the 
point of one's being unable to bear his glance, just the same 
as in the attire of fetes or ceremonies, or on horseback at the 
head of his troops. He excelled in all bodily exercises, and 
he liked to see them well done. Neither fatigue nor in- 
clemency of weather told on him, or made any impression 
on that heroic face ; showing through rain, snow, cold, sweat, 
or covered with dust, it was always the same. I have fre- 
quently witnessed this with admiration, for, unless it were 
weather of extreme and rare severity, nothing kept him from 
going out each day and staying out a long time. A voice 
whose tones answered to all the rest, a facility of speaking 
well and listening courteously, and, better than any other, 
much reserve, politeness always grave, always majestic, al- 
ways discriminating according to age, rank, sex, and for 
women ever that natural gallantry. So much for the ex- 
terior, which never had its like, or anything approaching it." 

The Palatine, without having Saint-Simon's genius for 
portraiture, is in accord : " It cannot be denied that Louis 
XIV was the finest man in his kingdom. No person had a 
better appearance than he. His figure was agreeable, his legs 
well made, his feet small, his voice pleasant; he was lusty 
in proportion ; and, in short, no fault could be found with his 
person." 

Spanheim, the ambassador from Brandenburg, saw the 
king in 1690, and wrote of him : " The attractions of his per- 
son are his figure, his carriage, air, and fine bearing, an ex- 
terior full of grandeur and majesty, and a bodily constitution 
fit to sustain the fatigues and the burden of so great a post, 

185 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

to which may be added that he most happily mingles great- 
ness and familiarity in his private conversations, and bears 
himself in them without either haughtiness or over-con- 
descension." 

Louis, therefore, had great personal charm; it was of 
untold advantage to him, and he retained it until a few 
months before his death. " In the midst of all other men his 
stature, his carriage, his beauty, and the grand mien which 
survived that beauty, even to the tones of his voice, and 
the alertness and naturally majestic grace of all his person, 
caused him to be distinguished to the day of his death as the 
King Bee. It may also be said that, had he been born only a 
private gentleman, he would equally have possessed the secret 
of fetes and pleasure, of gallantry and fascination," ^ Amid 
so many perfections there seems to have been but one flaw, 
mentioned by the Palatine, and which probably appeared late 
in life : " The king was in the habit of keeping his mouth 
open in an awkward way." ^ 

He loved fresh air and exercise, hunting and shooting, 
horses and dogs, and had all manly tastes and habits. He 
danced well, played tennis and mall well, drove himself bet- 
ter than the best coachmen, and was a splendid horseman all 
his life. Stag-hunting and shooting were his favorite forms 
of the chase. An Englishman named Hammer found him 
an expert fencer. 

His dress, so magnificent during his love-making days, 
became much simpler later in life, but at no time was there 
anything of the fop about him. " He was always clad in 
dresses more or less brown, lightly embroidered, but never 
at the edges, sometimes with nothing but a gold button, 
sometimes black velvet. He had always a vest of cloth, or 
of red, blue, or green satin, much embroidered. He wore no 

^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 357. 
"Memoirs of Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans, p. (ij. 

186 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

ring, and no jewels, except in the buckles of his shoes, gar- 
ters, and hat, the latter always trimmed with Spanish point, 
with a white feather. He had always the cordon bleu over 
his coat, except at fetes, when he wore it under his coat, 
with precious stones, worth eight or ten million livres, at- 
tached." ^ But whether his attire was simple or superb, 
whether he wore a coat of brown velvet lightly embroidered, 
or a coat of cloth of gold trimmed with diamonds, Louis 
himself was always superior to his apparel. He was never 
a bedecked and bejeweled clothes-horse like his brother. 
Monsieur. 

As a man, then, Louis was well built, handsome, and 
vigorous, physically fit for the post he held. However, he 
might have been all that, and a monarch to boot, and yet 
have failed to produce the impression that his presence un- 
doubtedly did produce, when, of a morning, as the hour 
struck for mass, the usher of the Cabinet, opening the glass 
doors, announced to the glittering world that filled the gal- 
lery, " Gentlemen, the king! " 

THE KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE 

As king, therefore let us now consider him; and at the out- 
set it may be said that it is only as king that one can rightly 
consider him at all. Before he reached manhood, before he 
reached youth, while he was still a child of five years, he 
was king. Let him ransack his memory as he would, he could 
have found there little that antedated his father's death and 
his own accession to the throne. From the beginning, he 
was king. As for private life, he had none. He fancied that 
he had, however. He built Marly for that purpose. At Ver- 
sailles he was surrounded by three or four thousand courtiers ; 
at Marly, by five or six hundred : at Versailles all the nobles 

^ Saint-Simon, III, p. 28. 
187 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

stood in his presence; at Marly a limited number could sit 
down : at Versailles he alone was covered at the promenade ; 
at Marly, on quitting the chateau, he said aloud to those who 
followed him, " Your hats, gentlemen ! " That was his idea 
of private life ; and to attain it it was necessary to construct 
a palace and gardens costing more than twelve millions. 
His lever and coucher were not less ceremonious at Marly 
than at Versailles; he dined and supped au grand convert. 
When he passed a quiet hour with his family, he alone had 
an arm-chair ; his daughters sat on stools, and his sons stood. 
At all hours, and in all places, he was king, and had been so 
from his earliest recollection. Therefore, except in the mat- 
ter of physique, it is not easy to separate the man from the 
monarch. 

But if he could recall with difficulty a period when he was 
not king, he could distinctly remember those bitter years of 
his minority, when Mazarin ruled and amassed riches ; when 
the French nobility reared and pranced and kicked over the 
traces ; when civil war raged ; when the Grande Mademoiselle 
turned the cannon of the Bastille against the royal troops; 
and when he, the king, abandoned and neglected, was fished 
out of a basin in the garden of the Palais Royal, and was. 
bundled by night out of Paris to sleep on straw at St. Ger- 
main. In those hard years he had torn sheets on his bed, 
and hardly a whole coat on his back, but he learned valuable 
lessons, lessons which were of much more service to him than 
the smattering of Latin he got from La Porte. At twenty- 
three he took the reins in his own hands, resolved to rule as 
well as reign, resolved to make himself great and glorious, 
resolved to raise France to a proud preeminence, resolved 
to be obeyed. It does not come within the limits of this book 
to discuss his foreign and colonial policy, or his wars and 
conquests. Let us consider now how he fashioned himself 
for kingship. 

i88 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

Nature and fortune had joined hands to aid him in his 
work. Nature had favored his person; fortune had placed 
liim on the French throne at a time when men hoped for all 
things from monarchy, and when they believed in the divine 
right of kings. If that belief had not been in the hearts 
of both subjects and sovereign, Louis could never have be- 
come the king he was. He took himself in hand; he cal- 
culated everything; he left nothing to chance; he kept his 
kingship as close to him as his skin; until at last, through 
practice, he played his role to perfection, without apparent 
ejffort. He became the great exemplar of majesty. " Even 
to his slightest gesture, his walk, his deportment, his coun- 
tenance, all was circumspect, becoming, noble, grand, majes- 
tic, imposing, and yet quite natural." ^ Desiring to secure 
for France supremacy in arms, he wished not less to secure 
for her supremacy in manners. To be the exemplar of maj- 
esty was not enough. He became the type of courtesy ; and 
the politeness he demanded from others, he himself displayed. 
" Never was man so naturally polite, or of a politeness 
so measured, so graduated, so adapted to person, time, and 
place. Toward women his politeness was without parallel. 
For ladies he took his hat off completely, but to a greater or 
less extent; for titled people, half off, holding it in his hand 
or against his ear some instants, more or less marked. For 
the nobility he contented himself by putting his hand to his 
hat. He took it off for the princes of the blood, as for the 
ladies. If he accosted ladies, he did not cover himself until 
he had quitted them. Never did he pass the humblest peasant 
woman without raising his hat; even to chambermaids, that 
he knew to be such, as often happened at Marly. All this was 
out of doors, for in the house he was never covered. His 
reverences, more or less marked, but always light, were in- 
comparable for their grace and manner." ^ 

^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 367. ^ Idem. 

189 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

But imposing as he was in daily life, he had within him, 
and this renders him unique, a reserve fund of majesty. On 
occasions of ceremony he drew on that fund, and intensified 
his grand air. Just what that air of grandeur was it is im- 
possible to say ; but all the evidence of contemporaries makes 
it clear that it was something real and powerful, that it was 
natural, that it was not pomposity. No artist has been able 
to reproduce it in the portraits of the king. Louis alone had 
the secret, and carried it with him to the grave. Whatever 
it was, behind it lay the real force of the man, his faith in 
himself, and his firm belief in his divine right. " In serious 
things," says Saint-Simon, " such as ambassadors' audiences, 
no man ever impressed me so deeply, and one had to begin 
by accustoming oneself to see him if one would not run the 
risk of stopping short in addressing him. His answers on 
these occasions were always brief, exact, full, and very rarely 
without something pleasing, sometimes even flattering, when 
the address deserved it. The respect also which his presence 
inspired, wherever he might be, imposed silence and even 
a sort of fear." Though he proved on more than one occa- 
sion that he was not afraid of Louis, Saint-Simon speaks re- 
peatedly of " that terrifying majesty so natural to the king." 
There have been many kings in France, but there has been 
only one whose majesty was proclaimed a terror by his 
enemy. 

Louis possessed, then, in a supreme degree the virtues of 
courtesy, majesty, and grace. But to become the Grand 
Monarch it was not sufficient that he should cultivate certain 
traits of character; he must repress other traits. He bridled 
his tongue. He never took advantage of his position to in- 
dulge at the expense of others in cutting or ironical remarks, 
so terrible from the lips of a man whom none can answer. 
If he could not say anything pleasant or flattering, he said 
nothing. " Never did disobliging words escape him ; and if 

190 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

he had to blame, to reprimand or correct, which was very 
rare, it was nearly always with goodness, never, except on 
one occasion (the admonition of Courtenvaux), with anger 
or severity. Never did man give with better grace than Louis 
XIV, or augment so much, in this way, the price of his bene- 
fits. Never did man sell to better profit his words, even his 
smiles, nay, his looks." ^ 

He had wit and a sense of humor, but he found it nec- 
essary to repress them. " When the king pleased," says the 
Palatine, " he could be one of the most agreeable and ami- 
able men in the world; but it was first necessary that he 
should be intimately acquainted with persons. He used to 
joke in a very comical and amusing manner." However, the 
Palatine was a privileged person ; for example : " To amuse 
the king, I sometimes said whatever came into my head, 
without the least ceremony, and often made him laugh 
heartily." ^ Very few people were on any such footing. If 
the king joked in an amusing manner with the Palatine, he 
probably did so with the Duchesse de Bourgogne, and with 
Monsieur, but never with his courtiers. His sense of humor, 
however, got the better of him occasionally. Saint-Simon 
relates an instance of this : " Heudicourt the younger had 
made a song upon the grand provost and his family. It was 
so simple, so true to nature, withal so pleasant, that some one 
having whispered it in the ear of the Marechal de Boufflers 
at chapel, he could not refrain from bursting into laughter, 
although he was in attendance at the mass of the king. The 
marechal was the gravest and most serious man in all France, 
and the greatest slave to decorum. The king turned round, 
therefore, in surprise, which was considerably augmented 
when he saw the Marechal de Boufflers nigh to bursting with 
laughter, and the tears running down his cheeks. On re- 

^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 367. 
^ Memoirs of the Duchesse d'Orleans, p. 53. 

191 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

turning to his cabinet, he called the marechal, and asked 
what had put him in that state at the mass. The marechal 
repeated the song to the king. Thereupon the king burst 
out laughing louder than the marechal, and for a whole fort- 
night afterward could not help smiling whenever he saw the 
grand provost or any of his family." Heudicourt's song must 
have been very witty. 

No man had his nerves under better control than Louis, 
and nothing was more rare than for him to lose his temper. 
Saint-Simon mentions but three occasions when he did so. 
Here is the first : " It happened that Louvois, not content with 
the terrible executions in the Palatinate, which he had coun- 
seled, wished to burn Treves. He proposed it to the king. 
A dispute arose between them, but the king would not be 
persuaded. Some days afterward Louvois, who had the fault 
of obstinacy, came as usual to work with the king in Ma- 
dame de Maintenon's apartments. At the end of the sitting, 
he said that he felt convinced that it was scrupulousness alone 
which had hindered the king from consenting to so necessary 
an act as the burning of Treves, and that he had, therefore, 
taken the responsibility on himself by sending a courier with 
orders to set fire to the place at once. The king was im- 
mediately, and contrary to his nature, so transported with 
anger that he seized the tongs, and was about to make a run 
at Louvois, when Madame de Maintenon placed herself be- 
tween them, crying, ' Oh, Sire, what are you going to do ? ' 
and took the tongs from his hands. Louvois, meanwhile, 
gained the door. The king cried after him to recall him, 
and said, with flashing eyes, ' Despatch a courier instantly 
with a counter-order, and let him arrive in time; for, know 
this: if a single house is burned, your head shall answer 
for it ! ' Louvois, more dead than alive, hastened away at 
once. Of course he had sent off no courier. He said he had, 
believing that by this trick the king, though he might be 

192 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

angry, would be led to give way. He had reckoned wrongly, 
however, as we have seen." In this case certainly the king's 
wrath was justified, for the minister's conduct was without 
excuse. 

On the second occasion, Louis's pride was cut to the quick 
by the disgraceful exhibition of cowardice shown by his fa- 
vorite son, the Due du Maine, when with the army. " He felt 
deeply for that dear son whose troops had become the laugh- 
ing-stock of the army; he felt the railleries that, as the ga- 
zettes showed him, foreigners were heaping upon his forces ; 
and his vexation was inconceivable. The king, so equal in 
his manners, so thoroughly master of his lightest movements, 
even upon the gravest occasions, succumbed under this event. 
On rising from the table at Marly he saw a servant who, 
while taking away the dessert, helped himself to a biscuit, 
which he put in his pocket. On the instant, the king for- 
got his dignity, and cane in hand ran to this valet (who 
little suspected what was in store for him), struck him, 
abused him, and broke the cane vtpon his body. The truth is, 
it was only a reed, and snapped easily. However, with the 
stump in his hand, the king walked away like a man quite 
beside himself, continuing to abuse this valet, and entered 
Madame de Maintenon's apartment, where he remained 
nearly an hour. Upon coming out he met Pere La Chaise. 
* My father,' said the king to him, in a very loud voice, * I 
have beaten a knave and broken my cane over his shoulders, 
but I do not think I have offended God.' Everybody around 
trembled at this public confession, and the poor priest mut- 
tered a semblance of approval between his teeth, to avoid 
irritating the king more. The noise that the affair made and 
the terror it inspired may be imagined ; for some time nobody 
could divine the cause, although everybody easily understood 
that that which had appeared could not be the real one." 
This is the second instance of loss of temper mentioned by 

'' 193 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

Saint-Simon. The Palatine, without referring to this case, 
speaks of two other occasions on which the king struck 
valets : " I never saw the king beat but two men, and they 
both well deserved it. The first was a valet, who would not 
let him enter the garden during one of his own fetes. The 
other was a pickpocket, whom the king saw emptying the 
pocket of M. de Villars. Louis XIV, who was on horse- 
back, rode toward the thief and struck him with his cane ; the 
rascal cried out, ' Murder ! I shall be killed ! ' which made us 
all laugh, and the king laughed also. He had the thief taken, 
and made him give up the purse, but he did not have him 
hanged." 

The third case given by Saint-Simon, the admonition of 
Courtenvaux, is as follows : " Courtenvaux, eldest son of M. 
de Louvois, was commander of the Cent-Suisses ; fond of 
obscure debauches; with a ridiculous voice, miserly, quarrel- 
some, though modest and respectful ; and, in fine, a very stu- 
pid fellow. The king, more eager to know all that was pass- 
ing than most people believed, although they gave him credit 
for not a little curiosity in this respect, had authorized Bon- 
temps to engage a number of Swiss in addition to those posted 
at the doors and in the parks and gardens. These attendants 
had orders to stroll morning, noon, and night, along the cor- 
ridors, the passages, the staircases, even into the private 
places, and, when it was fine, in the courtyards and gardens; 
and in secret to watch people, to follow them, to notice where 
they went, to notice who was there, to listen to all conversa- 
tions they could hear, and to make reports of their discoveries. 
This was done at Versailles, at Marly, at Trianon, at Fon- 
tainebleau, and in all places where the king was. These new 
attendants vexed Courtenvaux considerably, for over such 
newcomers he had no sort of authority. One season at Fon- 
tainebleau, a room, which had formerly been occupied by a 
party of the Cent-Suisses, was given up entirely to the new 

194 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

corps. The room was in a public passage of communication 
to all in the chateau, and, in consequence, excellently well 
adapted for watching those who passed through it. Courten- 
vaux, more than ever vexed by this new arrangement, re- 
garded it as a fresh encroachment upon his authority, flew 
into a violent rage with the newcomers, and railed at them 
in good set terms. They allowed him to fume as he would ; 
they had their orders, and were too wise to be disturbed by 
his rage. The king, who heard of all this, sent at once for 
Courtenvaux. As soon as he appeared in the cabinet, the 
king, without giving him time to approach, called to him from 
the other end of the room, in a rage so terrible, and for him 
so novel, that not only Courtenvaux, but the princes and 
princesses and everybody in the cabinet, trembled. Menaces 
that his post should be taken away from him, terms the most 
severe and the most unusual, rained upon Courtenvaux, who, 
fainting with fright and ready to sink under the ground, 
had neither the time nor the means to prefer a word. The 
reprimand finished by the king's saying, ' Get out ! ' He had 
scarcely the strength to obey. The cause of this strange scene 
was that Courtenvaux, by the fuss he had made, had drawn 
the attention of the whole court to the change effected by 
the king, and that, when once seen, its object was clear to 
all eyes. The king, who hid his spy system with the great- 
est care, had counted upon this change passing unperceived, 
and was beside himself with anger when he found it made 
apparent to everybody by Courtenvaux's noise. He never 
regained the king's favor during the rest of his life; and 
but for his family he would certainly have been driven away 
and his office taken from him." The spy system was un- 
doubtedly useful to the king, but unworthy of him. It was 
mean and petty. He must have felt it to be so, and was 
incensed and mortified to have it brought to light. But these 
cases of loss of temper are, after all, small things in contrast 

195 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

to Louis's daily courtesy, majesty, and tact, exercised on 
countless occasions through so many years; and in each case, 
when his wrath had cooled, the king was not revengeful. 
Louvois was not dismissed or imprisoned, Courtenvaux was 
spared on account of his family, the valets were not dis- 
charged, the pickpocket was not hanged. If the Grand Mon- 
arch had had no worse faults than these flashes of temper, 
he would have been what some of his flatterers were pleased 
to dub him, " the marvel of his age." 

Examples of the king's control of temper, his tact and 
courtesy, abound. Saint-Simon's story of Lauzun's quarrel 
with Louis is perhaps the best known. How the king had 
promised Lauzun the post of grand master of artillery ; how 
Louvois and Madame de Montespan used their influence to 
prevent this favor; and how the hot-headed and audacious 
Gascon demanded an audience with Louis, turned his back 
on the monarch, snapped the blade of his sword, and cried 
out that he would never again serve a king who had so 
shamefully broken his word, while Louis, though transported 
with anger, said he should be sorry to strike a man of quality, 
tossed his cane out of the window, and left the room, — all 
that, Saint-Simon has told in his own matchless way. But 
the Grand Monarch would probably have been much sur- 
prised, had he been able to read the account of this episode, 
to find that in M. de Saint-Simon's opinion he had performed 
" the finest action of his life." It was a good example of 
control of temper, nothing more, and the fact that it became 
in Saint-Simon's eyes " the finest action " was because Lau- 
zun was a duke, and Saint-Simon was a duke, and the latter 
was rabid on the subject of ducal rank. 

Though Louis would not overlook criticism on his methods 
of government, he was more amenable in other matters. For 
example, there was Villiers, a follower of the Due de Ven- 
dome. He condemned the king's taste in music, painting, 

196 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

architecture, and gardens. If the king planted a grove, put 
up a fountain, furnished an apartment, Villiers pronounced 
it all wrong and expressed himself loudly. " It is strange," 
said Louis, " that Villiers has chosen my palace to come to 
in order to find fault with all I do." Meeting him one day 
in the gardens of Versailles, the king pointed out one of his 
recent improvements, saying, " This, then, has not the good 
fortune to please you?" "No," replied Villiers. "And 
yet," said the king, " there are many people who are not so 
discontented with it." " That may be," replied Villiers. 
" Each to his own mind." "One cannot please everybody," 
answered the king, laughing. On a par with this is that an- 
swer made by Louis to Despreaux, who had condemned some 
verses which His Majesty had approved. " Tell the king," 
cried Despreaux, publicly, " that I am a better judge of verse 
than he." " He is right," said Louis. " He is a better judge 
than I." But it should be borne in mind that neither the criti- 
cisms of Villiers, nor of Despreaux, concerned the king's 
government or affected his power; had they done that he 
would not have endured them. 

" If the king heard that any one had spoken ill of him," 
says the Palatine, " he displayed a proud resentment toward 
the offender; otherwise it was impossible to be more polite 
and affable than he was. His conversation was pleasing in 
a high degree. He had the skill of giving an agreeable turn 
to everything. His manner of talking was natural, without 
the least affectation, amiable and obliging." ^ This charm 
of manner, joined to so much majesty and grace, called forth 
the encomiums of the courtiers, and not all of their praises 
were flattery. Louis was fond of flattery, too fond, though 
he was not as greedy of it as he is commonly supposed to 
have been, and at times he was ready to ridicule it ; but in this 
connection it should never be forgotten that the king con- 
^ Memoirs of Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans, p. 46. 
197 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

tinually said complimentary or flattering things to others, 
and they were naturally quick to pay him back in his own 
coin. He had, too, in a high degree the great gift of tact. 
" He understood perfectly the art of satisfying people even 
while he reproved their requests. His manners were most 
affable, and he spoke with so much politeness as to win all 
hearts." ^ In the Memoirs of Madame de Montespan there 
is an instance of Louis's tact at the reception of the Doge 
of Genoa : " When the Doge had asked for pardon, as he 
had submitted to do, two of his senators fell to weeping. 
The king, who noticed the general emotion, descended from 
his throne and spoke for some minutes with the five person- 
ages, smiling on them with his most seductive grace, and once 
more drew all hearts to himself." ^ Under the circumstances 
this was sufficiently striking, but unfortunately there is no 
mention of it in the official account of the ceremony, and the 
genuineness of the Memoirs of Madame de Montespan has 
been questioned. But another example, about the authen- 
ticity of which there is no doubt, is given by the Pala- 
tine : " Upon my arrival at St. Germain I felt as if I had 
fallen from the clouds. I saw very well that I did not please 
my husband much, and indeed that could not be wondered at, 
considering my ugliness ; however, I resolved to conduct my- 
self in such a manner toward Monsieur that he should become 
accustomed to me by my attentions, and eventually should 
be able to endure me. Immediately upon my arrival, the 
king came to see me at the Chateau Neuf, where Monsieur 
and I lived ; he brought with him the dauphin, who was then 
a child of about ten years old. As soon as I had finished my 
toilet the king returned to the Old Chateau, where he received 
me in the Guards' hall, and led me to the queen, whispering 
at the same time, ' Do riot be frightened, madame ; she will 

^ Memoirs of Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans, p. 68. 
" Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, II, p. 308. 

198 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

be more afraid of you than you of her.' The king felt so 
much the embarrassment of my situation that he would not 
quit me; he sat by my side, and whenever it was necessary 
for me to rise, that is to say, whenever a prince or a duke 
entered the apartment, he gave me a gentle push in the side 
without being perceived." On one occasion at least Louis 
used his tact to replenish his treasury. " It was on the 7th 
of May, 1708," says Saint-Simon, " and at Marly. The king, 
walking round the gardens, showing them to Bergheyck, and 
talking with him upon the approaching campaign in Flan- 
ders, stopped before one of the pavilions. It was that occu- 
pied by Desmarets, who had recently succeeded Chamillart 
in the direction of the finances, and who was at work within 
with Samuel Bernard, the famous banker, the richest man in 
Europe, and whose money dealings were the largest. The king 
observed to Desmarets that he was very glad to see him with 
M. Bernard, and then immediately said to the latter : ' You 
are just the man never to have seen Marly — come and see 
it now ; I will give you up afterward to Desmarets.' Bernard 
followed, and while the walk lasted the king spoke only to 
Bergheyck and to Bernard, leading them everywhere, and 
showing them everything with the grace he knew so well 
how to employ when he desired to overwhelm. I marveled, 
and I was not the only one, at this species of prostitution 
of the king, so niggard of his words, to a man of Bernard's 
degree. I was not long in learning the cause of it, and I 
admired to see how the greatest kings sometimes find them- 
selves reduced. Our finances just then were exhausted. Des- 
marets no longer knew of what wood to make a crutch. He 
had been to Paris, knocking at every door; but the most 
exact engagements had been so often broken that he found 
nothing but excuses and closed doors. Bernard, like the rest, 
would advance nothing; much was due him. In vain Des- 
marets represented to him the pressing necessity for money, 

199 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

and the enormous gains he had made out of the king. Ber- 
nard remained unshakable. The king and the minister were 
cruelly embarrassed. Desmarets said to the king that, after 
all was said and done, only Samuel Bernard could draw 
them out of the mess, because it was not doubtful that he had 
plenty of money everywhere ; that the only thing needed was 
to vanquish his determination and the obstinacy, even in- 
solence, he had shown ; that he was a man crazy with vanity, 
and capable of opening his purse if the king deigned to 
flatter him. It was agreed, therefore, that Desmarets should 
invite Bernard to dinner, and that the king should come and 
disturb them as I have related. Bernard was the dupe of 
this scheme; he returned from his walk with the king en- 
chanted to such an extent that he said he would prefer ruin- 
ing himself rather than leave in embarrassment a monarch 
who had just treated him so graciously and whose eulogiums 
he uttered with enthusiasm." ^ 

Louis's poise was perfect and proof against surprise. Of 
this Saint-Simon gives a striking example : " The grand 
apartments at Versailles, that is to say from the gallery 
to the tribune of the chapel, were hung with crimson velvet, 
trimmed and fringed with gold. One fine morning all the 
fringe and trimmings were found to have been cut away. 
This appeared extraordinary in a place so frequented all day, 
so well closed at night, and so well guarded at all times. 
Bontemps, the king's valet, was in despair, and did his ut- 
most to discover the thieves, but without success. Five or 
six days afterward, I was at the king's supper, with nobody 
but Daquin, chief physician, between the king and me, and 
nobody at all between me and the table. Suddenly I per- 
ceived a large black form in the air, but before I could tell 
what it was, it fell upon the end of the king's table just 
in front of the cover which had been laid for Monseigneur 
^ Saint-Simon, II, p. i6. 
200 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

and Madame. By the noise it made in falling, and the weight 
of the thing itself, it seemed as though the table must be 
broken. The plates jumped up, but none were upset, and 
the thing, as luck would have it, did not fall upon any of 
them, but simply upon the cloth. The king turned his head 
half round, and without being moved in any way said, ' I 
think that is my fringe ! ' It was indeed a bundle, larger 
than a priest's flat-brimmed hat, about two feet in height, 
and shaped like a pyramid. It had come from behind me, 
from the middle door of the two antechambers, and a piece 
of fringe getting loose in the air had fallen upon the king's 
wig, from which it was removed by Livry, a gentleman in 
waiting. Livry also opened the bundle, and saw that it did 
indeed contain the fringes all twisted up, and everybody saw 
likewise. A murmur was heard. Livry, wishing to take 
away the bundle, found a paper attached to it. He took the 
paper and left the bundle. The king stretched out his hand 
and said, ' Let us see.' Livry, and with reason, would not 
give up the paper, but stepped back, read it, and then passed it 
to Daquin, in whose hands I read it. The writing, coun- 
terfeited and long like that of a woman, was in these words : 
' Take back your fringes, Bontemps ; they are not worth the 
trouble of keeping. My compliments to the king.' The 
paper was rolled up, not folded; the king wished to take it 
from Daquin, who, after much hesitation, allowed him to 
read it, but did not let it out of his hands. ' Well, that is 
very insolent ! ' said the king, but in quite a placid, unmoved 
tone — as it were, an historical tone. Afterward he ordered 
the bundle to be taken away. Livry found it so heavy that 
he could scarcely lift it from the table, and gave it to an 
attendant who presented himself. The king spoke no more 
of this matter, nobody else dared to do so; and the supper 
finished as though nothing had happened. Besides the excess 
of insolence and impudence of this act, it was so perilous as 

201 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

to be scarcely understood. How could any one, without be- 
ing seconded by accomplices, throw a bundle of this weight 
and volume in the midst of a crowd such as was always pres- 
ent at the supper of the king, so dense that it could with 
difficulty be passed through? How, in spite of a circle of 
accomplices, could a movement of the arms necessary for 
such a throw escape all eyes? The Due de Gesvres was in 
waiting. Neither he nor anybody else thought of closing 
the doors until the king had left the table. It may be guessed 
whether the guilty parties remained until then, having had 
more than three quarters of an hour to escape, and every issue 
being free. Only one person was discovered, who was not 
known, but he proved to be a very honest man, and was 
dismissed after a short detention. Nothing has since been 
discovered respecting this theft or its bold restitution." ^ 
Throughout this episode Louis's attitude was admirable. 
With his quickness of perception he grasped at once the mean- 
ing of the crash and the mysterious cause of it. No person 
but the one who had been bold enough to steal his fringes 
would dare to insult him in such fashion, and he answered 
the stares of his courtiers by calmly solving the enigma, 
" I think that is my fringe ! " The mockery contained in the 
note he met with unrufHed majesty, and his grip on those 
about him was so strong that not one of them dared to discuss 
the matter in his presence. The king's poise, in small affairs 
or great, was well calculated to awe a people as nervous and 
excitable as the French. 

Majesty, courtesy, grace, and tact were, therefore, Louis's 
chief virtues. In those traits of character he surpassed all 
the kings Europe had seen; he stood alone and unrivaled. 
But in a lesser degree, and with limitations, he had other vir- 
tues. " He was always kind and generous," says the Pala- 
tine, " when he acted from his own impulses." Even Saint- 
^ Saint-Simon, I, p. 140. 
202 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

Simon, bitter as he is, bears the same testimony : " He loved 
glory; was fond of order and regularity; was by disposition 
prudent, moderate, discreet, master of his movements and of 
his tongue. Will it be believed? He was also by disposi- 
tion good and just ! God had sufficiently gifted him to enable 
him to be a good king, perhaps even a tolerably great king. 
All the evil came to him from elsewhere." To kindness, gen- 
erosity, and a sense of justice must be added courage, per- 
severance, and reticence. In short, the king had many good 
and some great qualities. 

His faults were due chiefly to his defective education and 
to his theories ; the former made him, when he became devout, 
a bigot, and the latter almost ruined France financially. " It 
is impossible for a man to be more ignorant of religion than 
the king was," says the Palatine. " I cannot understand how 
his mother could have brought him up with so little know- 
ledge on this subject. He believed all the priests said to him, 
as if it came from God Himself. Old Maintenon and Pere 
La Chaise had persuaded him that all the sins he had com- 
mitted with Madame de Montespan would be pardoned if he 
extirpated the followers of the reformed religion, and that 
this was the only path to heaven. The poor king believed 
it fervently, for he had never read a Bible in his life; and 
immediately after this the persecution commenced. He knew 
no more of religion than what his confessors chose to tell 
him, and they made him believe that it was not lawful to 
investigate in matters of religion, but that reason should be 
prostrated in order to gain heaven. The king, however, was 
earnest enough himself, and it was not his fault that hypoc- 
risy reigned at court. Old Maintenon had forced people to 
assume it." The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes was the 
great mistake of the Grand Monarch. To quote a famous 
phrase. " it was worse than a crime ; it was a blunder." Up 
to the day when he committed that iniquity Louis had led the 

203 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

vanguard of European civilization; then he fell back a cen- 
tury. Yet his Catholic subjects must share the odium with 
him, for they forced his hand. In his Memoirs, written in 
1670, Louis expresses himself as follows: "I believed that 
the best means, in order to reduce the Huguenots of my 
kingdom by degrees, was in the first place not to constrain 
them at all by any new rigor, to cause that to be observed 
toward them that they had obtained from my predecessors, 
but to accord them nothing beyond this, and even to confine 
its execution within the narrowest limits which justice and 
propriety could permit. As to the favors which depended 
on me alone, I resolved, and I have since observed this 
somewhat strictly, to grant them none." In other words, 
places and pensions were to be for Catholics alone, a nar- 
row-minded policy, which, however, was all that could rea- 
sonably be expected at that time and with the temper of 
France. Persecution the king distinctly condemned. " Those 
who wished to employ violent remedies," he continues, " did 
not know the nature of this evil, caused in part by the warmth 
of minds, which must be left to pass away and to die out 
insensibly, instead of exciting it anew by such strong con- 
tradictions, always useless, moreover, when the evil is not 
confined to a certain number, but diffused throughout the 
state." ^ That was Louis's attitude up to 1685, and doubtless 
he would have maintained it but for Madame de Maintenon 
and the Jesuits. The second wife of the Grand Monarch 
probably helped to save his soul, but she undoubtedly helped 
to ruin his kingdom. 

But pitiful as he was in matters of religion, where his 
*' reason was prostrated in order to gain heaven," Louis had 
naturally a strong mind, sound judgment, and good taste, 
and in other directions, in spite of his defective education, 
he made great strides. Thanks to the patronage of the king, 
* CEuvres de Louis XIV, I, p. 84. 
204 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

Versailles became not only the rallying-point for the nobility, 
but the rendezvous for artists and men of letters. What 
a galaxy fortune enabled Louis to assemble! — Moliere, Cor- 
neille, Racine, Boileau, La Fontaine, Lebrun, Girardon, 
Claude Lorrain, Le Notre, Massillon, Bossuet, Fenelon, 
Bourdaloue. They have done more for his fame than his 
ministers or his marshals; they have outlived him and his 
monarchy; they are to-day the only stars in his crown. In 
spite of the hue and cry raised against Moliere, the king sup- 
ported him steadily, and whether the anecdote told by Ma- 
dame Campan, on doubtful authority, of Moliere's breakfast- 
ing with Louis at his lever, be true or false, it is certainly true 
that when Pierre RouUes produced a book against Moliere and 
Tartuffe, in which the former was referred to as " a demon, 
the most signal infidel that has ever existed," and the latter 
as " an impious, abominable, and diabolical piece," His Maj- 
esty, far from relishing the flattery of the dedication, " To 
Louis XIV, the most glorious King of the World," promptly 
had the edition suppressed. In his best years, the king's 
benefactions to literary men and artists did not stop at the 
frontiers of France. " His ambassadors had orders to seek 
out the men in all countries whose labors merited the public 
esteem ; some were attracted to France by the offer of honor- 
able and advantageous positions; others received gratuities 
and pensions, accompanied by most flattering letters from the 
hand of Colbert, without other conditions than the tacit ob- 
ligation of loudly expressing their gratitude. The effect of 
this liberality which sought out merit throughout Europe, 
without distinction of nationality, and which made the King 
of France the protector of the republic of letters, was im- 
mense, and out of all proportion to the material expense." ^ 
Such a step on the part of a man whose early education had 
been so much neglected that he had been taught little beyond 

^ Henri Martin, History of France, I, p. 144. 
205 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

reading and writing leads one to the conclusion of the Pala- 
tine, " It is almost a miracle that the king should have become 
what he afterward was." 

But the point at which Louis seems to the modern mind 
most difficult to comprehend, nay, more, fantastic and absurd, 
is in his mental attitude toward himself and his mission. 
How great is the gulf which separates the seventeenth cen- 
tury from the twentieth ! " Royal authority," says Bossuet, 
'* is absolute. The king should render an account to no one 
for what he prescribes. Kings are gods, according to the 
language of the Scriptures, and participate in some manner 
in divine independence. Against the authority of the king 
there can be no remedy except in his authority. There is no 
coactive force against the king. ... It is not justifiable to 
rise against kings for any cause whatsoever. To speak against 
the king is a cause worthy of the greatest punishment, and 
this crime is treated as almost equal to that of blasphemy 
against God." ^ Upon this doctrine Louis was brought up, 
and in him it reached its logical fulfilment. By it he ruled, 
for neither philosophy nor science had as yet placed in the 
minds of his subjects a doubt to say him nay. " France is a 
monarchical state in the full extent of the expression," says 
Louis. " The king represents therein the entire nation, and 
each private individual represents only a single individual 
toward the king. Consequently all power, all authority, re- 
sides in the hands of the king, and there can be no other in his 
kingdom than that which he establishes. The nation does not 
form a body in France. It resides entire in the person of the 
king." ^ One should not make the mistake of supposing that 
this expression of the powers inherent in royalty was merely 
the personal opinion of the King of France. It was the be- 
lief of millions of his subjects, probably not to the full extent 

' CEuvres de Bossuet, IV, V, VI. 
' (Euvres de Louis XIV, II, p. 93. 

206 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

of Louis's conception, but in a degree sufficient to give that 
conception a living force. But Louis's idea of absolute mon- 
archy did not stop there; he denied the right of individual 
property. " Everything that is found in the extent of our 
states, of whatsoever nature it may be, belongs to us by the 
same right. The moneys which are in our cofifers, those 
which remain in the hands of our treasurers, and those which 
we leave in the commerce of our people, should be alike man- 
aged by us. Kings are absolute lords, and have naturally 
the full and free disposal of all the goods possessed as well 
by churchmen as by laymen, to use them at all times, ac- 
cording to the general need of their state." ^ Before such a 
monstrous principle one stands aghast. In the face of this, 
the $100,000,000 spent by the Grand Monarch in creating^ 
Versailles seems insignificant. This startling assumption of 
the royal ownership of all property was, again, not merely 
the king's private opinion, but was backed up by the Sor- 
bonne. " The king related to Marechal," says Saint-Simon, 
"that the extremity of his affairs (1710) had forced him 
to put on furious imposts; that setting aside compassion, 
scruples had much tormented him for taking thus the wealth 
of his subjects; that at last he had unbosomed himself to 
Pere Tellier, who had asked for a few days to think upon 
the matter, and that he had returned after having had a con- 
sultation with some of the most skilful doctors of the Sor- 
bonne, who had decided that all the wealth of his subjects 
was the king's, and that when he took it he only took what 
belonged to him." ^ While Colbert lived, while the resources 
of France were developed, while money abounded and the 
state flourished, this principle was more a theory than a law ; 
but when, in the bad years of the War of the Spanish Suc- 
cession, Louis made use of it, in a death-struggle with Eu- 

^CEuvres de Louis XIV, II, p. 121. 
" Saint-Simon, II, p. 161. 

207 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

rope, his subjects accepted it in so far only as they paid the 
taxes, without ceasing to cry out. " On my arrival at Marly 
(1709)," says Saint-Simon, " I found everything in trouble 
there; the king so chagrined that he could not hide it, al- 
though usually master of himself and of his face; the court 
believing that some new disaster had happened which would 
unwillingly be declared. Four or five days passed in this 
way; at last it became known what was in the wind. The 
king, informed that Paris and all the public were murmuring 
loudly about the expenses of Marly, at a time when it was 
impossible to meet the most indispensable claims of a neces- 
sary and unfortunate war, was more annoyed this time than 
on any other occasion, although he had often received the 
same warnings. Madame de Maintenon had the greatest 
difficulty to hinder him from returning straight to Versailles. 
The upshot was that the king declared with a sort of bitter 
joy that he would no longer feed the ladies at Marly; that 
for the future he would dine alone, simply, as at Versailles; 
that he would sup every day at a table for sixteen with his 
family. He added bitterly that by making retrenchments at 
Marly, he should not spend more there than at Versailles, 
so that he could go there when he pleased without being ex- 
posed to the blame of any one. He deceived himself from 
one end of this business to the other. The truth is that no 
change was made at Marly except in name. The king's sub- 
jects did not cease to complain." 

Louis was not a soldier. He was brave enough, he was an 
admirable organizer, and, seconded by Louvois, he made his 
army the most efficient in Europe; but in spite of the fact 
that he crossed the Rhine and entered triumphantly into 
conquered cities, or directed military operations from his 
cabinet at Versailles, his pose as a great captain strikes a 
false note. He owed the success of his spectacular sieges 
to Vauban, and the best opportunity he ever had of winning 

\ 208 




Jacques Benigne Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

a pitched battle hie threw away. " We were in this position," 
says Saint-Simon, " with an army in every way infinitely 
superior to that of the Prince of Orange, and with four whole 
months before us to profit by our strength, when the king 
declared on the 8th of June (1693) that he should return 
to Versailles, and sent off a large detachment of the army 
into Germany. The surprise of the Marechal de Luxem- 
bourg was without bounds. He represented the facility with 
which the Prince of Orange might now be beaten with one 
army and pursued by another; and how important it was 
to draw off detachments of the Imperial forces from Germany 
into Flanders, and how, by sending an army into Flanders 
instead of Germany, the whole of the Low Countries would 
be in our power. But the king would not change his plans, 
although M. de Luxembourg went down on his knees, and 
begged him not to allow such a glorious opportunity to es- 
cape. Madame de Maintenon, b)^ her tears when she parted 
from His Majesty, and by her letters since, had brought 
about this resolution." ^ It is the business of a soldier to 
destroy the enemy. 

When Pere La Chaise died, the news was brought to the 
king as he came out of his cabinet. " He received it," says 
Saint-Simon, " like a prince accustomed to losses, praised 
Pere La Chaise for his goodness, and then said smilingly, 
and quite aloud, before all the courtiers, to the two priests 
who had come to announce the death : ' Pie was so good that 
I sometimes reproached him for it, and he used to reply 
to me, " It is not I who am good ; it is you who are hard." ' 
The priests and all the courtiers were so surprised at this 
that they lowered their eyes. The remark spread directly; 
nobody was able to blame Pere La Chaise." This anecdote 
implies another phase of the king's character, hardness, or, 
in other words, pride. The Grand Monarch was not natu- 

^ Saint-Simon, I, p. 31. 
■^* 209 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

rally hard of heart, but he was one of the proudest men of 
whom history makes mention, and on the subject of his pride 
he has received a vast amount of criticism. It is an open 
question if much of that criticism is not misplaced. Louis. 
was not a philanthropist, nor a philosopher, nor a financier, 
nor a builder of better lodgings for workingmen; he was a 
king, according to his lights, and in his judgment, to be a 
king, was to rise and shine. " The business of a king," he 
says in his Memoirs, " is great, noble, and gratifying, when 
one feels capable of worthily fulfilling all the obligations 
it involves, but it is not exempt from trouble, fatigue, and 
disquiet. Uncertainty is sometimes most distressing, and 
when reasonable time has been passed in examination of a 
matter, a resolution must be taken, and the line one believes 
to be the best, followed. While keeping the state in view, 
one works for oneself; the good of the one makes the glory 
of the other. When the former is prosperous, exalted, and 
powerful, he who is the cause of this may be proud, and 
enjoy all that is most agreeable in life more fully than his 
subjects on his own account and theirs. When one has made 
mistakes, the fault should be repaired as soon as possible, 
and no consideration, not even that of kindness, be allowed 
to prevent this." That was his attitude, and since in the first 
half of his reign he had made France " prosperous, exalted, 
and powerful," he was proud, and his subjects were proud of 
him. We know to-day that his principles were false, but in 
the face of the defeats and misfortunes of his later years 
he followed those principles with a constancy and a courage 
that make criticism unjust and ridicule impossible. When 
his fortunes were most desperate, owing to the terrible de- 
feats his forces had suffered at the hands of Marlborough 
and Prince Eugene, and when his private griefs were most 
bitter, due to the sudden deaths of the Duchesse de Bour- 
gogne, the Due de Bourgogne, and their son, the Due de 

2IO 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

Bretagne, the old king displayed a pride and a courage truly 
admirable. Villars has left an account of the memorable 
interview he had with Louis on the i6th of April, 1712, 
before he set out to command the army in Flanders : *' The 
first time that I had the honor of seeing the king at Marly 
after these sad events, the firmness of the monarch gave way 
to the grief of the man. He wept, and said to me in a 
tone which moved me, * You see my state, Monsieur le Mare- 
chal. There are few examples of such misfortune as has hap- 
pened to me, since I have lost in less than a month my grand- 
son, my granddaughter-in-law, and their son, all of the great- 
est promise, all most tenderly loved. God has punished me. 
I have deserved it. I shall suffer less in another world. But 
let us lay aside my domestic misfortunes and see what can 
be done to prevent those which threaten the kingdom. The 
confidence I have in you is great, since I place in your hands 
the forces and the safety of the state. I know the reasoning 
of the courtiers. They wish me to retire to Blois and not to 
wait until the army of the enemy approaches Paris. But 
if a disaster should happen to the army which you command, 
I will go to St. Quentin, collect there all the troops I have, 
make a last effort with you, and perish with you, or save 
the state. Never will I suffer the enemy to approach my 
capital.' " With these words ringing in his ears, Villars set 
out, won the battle of Denain, and saved France. 

Louis, as has been said, was not naturally hard of heart, 
but his beliefs, his aims, and his environment made him self- 
centered and self-absorbed. Saint-Simon gives an example 
of this, all the more striking since it concerns a person to 
whom the king was sincerely devoted : " The Duchesse de 
Bourgogne, being in the family way this spring (1708), was 
much inconvenienced. The king wished to go to Fontaine- 
bleau at the commencement of the fine season, contrary to 
his usual custom, and had declared this wish. In the mean- 

211 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

time he desired to pay visits to Marly. Madame de Bour- 
gogne much amused him; he could not do without her, and 
yet so much movement was not suitable to her state. Ma- 
dame de Maintenon was uneasy, and Fagon gently inti- 
mated his opinion. This annoyed the king, accustomed to 
restrain himself for nothing, and spoiled in the past by hav- 
ing seen his mistresses travel when pregnant, or when just 
recovering from their confinement, and always in full dress. 
The hints against going to Marly bothered him, but did 
not make him give up going. All he would consent to was 
that the journey should be put off from the day after Quasi- 
modo to the Wednesday of the following week; but nothing 
could make him delay his journey beyond that time, or induce 
him to allow Madame de Bourgogne to remain at Versailles. 
On the following Saturday, as the king was taking a walk 
at Marly after mass, and amusing himself at the carp-basin 
between the chateau and the Perspective,^ we saw the Duch- 
esse de Lude coming toward him on foot and all alone, 
which, as no lady was with the king in the morning, was 
a rarity. We understood that she had something important 
to say to him, and when he was a short distance from her, 
we stopped so as to allow him to join her alone. The inter- 
view was not long. She went away again, and the king 
came back toward us, and near the carp-basin, without say- 
ing a word. Each saw clearly what was in the wind, and 
nobody was eager to speak. At last the king, when quite 
close to the basin, looked at the principal people around, 
and, without addressing anybody, said, with an air of vexa- 
tion, these few words, ' The Duchesse de Bourgogne is hurt.' 
M. de la Rochefoucauld ^ at once uttered an exclamation. 
M. de Bouillon, the Due de Tresmes, and the Marechal de 
Boufflers repeated in a low tone the words I have named; 

^ The pavilion behind which were the lodgings of the servants. 
" The grand huntsman of France. 

212 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

and M. de la Rochefoucauld, returning to the charge, de- 
clared emphatically that it was the greatest misfortune in 
the world, and that, as she had already wounded herself 
on other occasions, she might never, perhaps, have any more 
children. ' And if so,' interrupted the king all on a sud- 
den, with anger, ' what is that to me ? Has she not already 
a son; and if he should die, is not the Due de Berry old 
enough to marry and have one? What matters it to me 
who succeeds me, the one or the other? Are they not all 
equally my grandchildren ? ' And immediately, with im- 
petuosity, he added : ' Thank God she is wounded, since she 
was to be so; and I shall no longer be annoyed in my jom*- 
neys and in everything I wish to do by the representations 
of doctors, and the reasonings of matrons. I shall go and 
come at my pleasure, and shall be left in peace.' A silence 
so deep that an ant might be heard to walk succeeded this 
strange outburst. All eyes were lowered; people scarcely 
dared to breathe. All remained stupefied. Even the do- 
mestics and the gardeners stood motionless. This silence 
lasted more than a quarter of an hour. The king broke it 
as he leaned upon a balustrade to speak of a carp. Nobody 
replied. He addressed himself afterward on the subject of 
these carps to the valets, who did not ordinarily join in 
the conversation. Nothing but carps was spoken of with 
them. All was languishing, and the king went away some 
time after. As soon as we dared look at each other out of his 
sight, our eyes met and told all. Everybody there, was, for 
the moment, the confidant of his neighbor. We admired, 
we marveled, we grieved, we shrugged our shoulders. How- 
ever distant may be that scene, it is always equally present 
to me. M. de la Rochefoucauld was in a fury, and this time 
without being wrong. The chief equerry was ready to faint 
with affright. I myself examined everybody with my eyes 
and ears, and was satisfied with myself for having long 

213 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

since thought that the king loved and cared for himself alone, 
and was himself his only object in life. This strange dis- 
course sounded far and wide, much beyond Marly." ^ Ma- 
dame de Maintenon, who knew better than anybody else this 
phase of the king's character, has left on record, in a letter 
to Madame de Glapion, some lines which explain it per- 
fectly : " Great people, as a rule, never constrain themselves. 
They never think that others are constrained by them, nor 
do they feel grateful for it; simply because they are so 
accustomed to see everything done in reference to themselves 
that they are no longer struck by it, and pay no heed." 

Little has been said here of the king's mistresses. Mile, 
de la Valliere, Madame de Montespan, Mile, de Fontanges, 
and Madame de Soubise belong to an earlier period. From 
1682, when Versailles became the seat of government, and 
what was properly the court of Versailles began, Louis had 
no mistresses. For two or three years the courtiers were 
disposed to consider Madame de Maintenon in that light, 
but they discovered their error. " The king," says the Pala- 
tine, " gave great scandal on account of his mistresses ; but 
then he very sincerely repented of these offenses." During 
the last thirty-three years of his life the Grand Monarch 
set an example of clean living and piety, and it would be both 
unjust and inaccurate to drag the scandals of his young man- 
hood into his old age. 

Such were some of the lights and shadows in the char- 
acter of the most powerful and popular of the Bourbon 
kings; for, in spite of his errors, Louis was popular during 
the greater part of his long reign, and his strength lay in 
the fact that he was thoroughly French, and that his aims 
and ambitions were those of the large majority of his sub- 
jects. Wearied by the disorders of the Fronde, they had 
no wish to try constitutional experiments; they longed for 

^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 15. 
214 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

a strong government, glory, territory, and prestige, and 
Louis gave them what they craved. Up to 1690 at least, 
he v^as the personification of their ambitions and their hopes, 
and in that sense he could have uttered truly the famous 
phrase, which will always cling to him despite the doubt as 
to its authenticity, UEtat, c'est moi. In the bitter years of 
the War of the Spanish Succession his popularity and his 
financial system were strained to the breaking-point; and 
when, out of his furious struggle with Europe, he emerged, 
bleeding but still erect, uncrushed and unconquered, he had 
only two years to draw breath before he died. 

The world has failed to confirm the title, conferred on 
him by the city of Paris, Louis the Great; for though in 
him there were elements of greatness, he was too tightly 
bound by the trammels of etiquette, too closely hedged about 
by his divine right, to become a really great man. But 
the title. Grand Monarch, which sprang spontaneously to 
the lips of his contemporaries, is rightfully his, for he won 
it himself by his majesty and bearing, by his courtesy and 
grace, by the dignity with which he ruled his court, by his 
continuous labor, by his unvarying punctuality, by his stead- 
fast faith in the lofty origin of his office, and by his consistent 
endeavor to live up to his conception of his duties and re- 
sponsibilities, 

THE SUN KING 

Louis was an idealist, and Versailles was more than the 
dwelling of a King of France. On the ceiling of its sump- 
tuous Galerie des Glaces was a Sun King, young, victorious, 
and crowned with laurel, whom all the Arts united to cele- 
brate, who had dethroned Jupiter, and had created, on the 
glittering arches of Versailles, a new Olympus in which all 
the gods and goddesses of mythology swelled his triumph 
train. Out under the blue sky he drove his four-horse chariot 

215 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

amid the leaping waters/ and the gilded device ^ of his divin- 
ity blazed on the railings that hedged his royal house. He 
was always young, he was always victorious, he was always 
crowned with laurel, he was always superb. Each day he 
rose and set with the same splendor, and in transit he gave 
light and life to all the world. He was Louis's ideal, and 
toward him Louis unceasingly strove, hampered by the finan- 
cial difficulties of an earthly existence. 

" Sire," wrote Colbert in 1675, " I entreat Your Majesty 
to permit me to tell yoti that neither in war nor in peace 
have you ever consulted your finances to determine your 
expenditures, which are so extraordinary that they are cer- 
tainly without example; and, if you will be pleased to ex- 
amine and compare the times and years, during the last 
twenty-five years that I have had the honor of serving you, 
you will find that, although the receipts have greatly in- 
creased, the expenditures have far exceeded the receipts, 
and perhaps this will persuade Your Majesty to moderate 
and curtail what is excessive, and by this means to put a 
little more proportion between the receipts and the expendi- 
tures." To this Louis answered, " The king gives alms in 
spending largely." It was the Sun King who replied. The 
business of a Sun King was not to balance receipts and 
expenditures. A Sun King dazzled, or he did nothing. 

From 1670 to 1685, with a magnificent disregard of re- 
ceipts and expenditures, Louis neared his goal. He was 
young and victorious and crowned with laurel. He rose and 
set each day with the same splendor, and in transit he gave, 
in his opinion, light and life to all the world. " All was 
flourishing then in the state," says Saint-Simon. " Riches 
everywhere. Colbert had placed the finances, the navy, com- 

^ The basin of Apollo. impar was invented for him at the 

" Louis took the sun for his device time of the tournament on the 

in 1656, at a fete given at the Palais Place du Carrousel in 1662. 

Royal. The legend Nee pluribus 

216 



^^'^^i-.w; 





His Personal Appearance and Character 

merce, manufactures, letters even, upon the highest point; 
and this age, like that of Augustus, produced in abundance 
illustrious men of all kinds, even those illustrious only in 
pleasures." In the Mercure may be found an account of the 
reception of the Doge of Genoa at Versailles on the 15th 
of May, 1685 : " When the doge and the senators had as- 
cended the magnificent staircase leading to the grand apart- 
ments of His Majesty, they entered the salon of War, and 
turned from that into the grand gallery, at the other end 
of which was the king on his throne in the salon of Peace. 
. . . All the apartments and the gallery were magnificently 
furnished with silver furniture, worth many million livres. 
The crowd was so great that, in spite of the efforts made 
to keep a passage free, the doge had much difficulty in 
crossing the gallery. M. le Marechal Due de Duras con- 
ducted him to the foot of His Majesty's throne. It was 
made of silver." When Louis received the ambassadors of 
Siam in 1686, the Marquis de Sourches describes the king's 
costume as follows : " He wore a habit of cloth of gold, laced 
with large diamonds." ^ Madame de Montespan is in accord : 
"When His Majesty appeared on his throne, the fire of the 
diamonds with which he was covered for a moment dazzled 
all eyes." ^ " As for the king himself," declares Saint- 
Simon, " nobody ever approached his magnificence." ^ 

But France was not rich enough to support a Sun King's 
splendor and wage war at the same time. " The king," 
says Dangeau, under date of 1689, " has decided that peo- 
ple must send to the mint all their silver furniture, tables, 
mirrors, vases, etc., and to set the example himself he has 
had melted up all his beautiful silver furniture, in spite of 
the richness of the workmanship." Things went from bad 

^ Memoirs, II, p. 161 

^ Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, II, p. 307. 

' Saint-Simon, II, p. 369. 

217 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

to worse, until in tlie War of the Spanish Succession the Sun 
King disappeared in the battle-smoke of Blenheim, leaving 
the King of France to struggle with misfortune. " The 
want of money indeed made itself felt so much at this time 
(1707)," says Saint-Simon, "that the king was obliged to 
seek for resources as a private person might have done. . . . 
The difficulty of finding money to carry on the affairs of the 
nation continued to grow so irksome that Chamillart, who 
had both the finance and war departments under his control, 
was unable to stand against the increased trouble and 
vexation which this state of things brought to him. More 
than once he had represented that this double work was too 
much for him. But the king had in former times expressed 
so much annoyance from the troubles that arose between 
the finance and war departments that he would not separate 
them after having once joined them together. At last Cha- 
millart could bear up under his heavy load no longer. The 
vapors seized him; he had attacks of giddiness in the head; 
his digestion was obstructed; he grew thin as a lath. He 
wrote again to the king, begging to be released from his 
duties, and stating frankly that, in the state he was, if some 
relief was not afforded him, everything would go wrong and 
perish. He always left a large margin to his letters, and 
upon this the king generally wrote his reply. Chamillart 
showed me this letter when it came back to him, and I saw 
upon it with great surprise, in the handwriting of the king, 
this short note : ' Well, let us perish together.' " 

Did they not perish together, Sun King and King of 
France, and when the end came in 171 5, who but the man 
alone was left to meet it ? " On Saturday evening, the 24th 
of August, he supped in his dressing-gown, in the presence 
of the courtiers, for the last time. I noticed that he could 
only swallow liquids, and that he was troubled if looked at. 
He could not finish his supper, and begged the courtiers to 

218 



His Personal Appearance and Character 

pass on, that is to say, go away." ^ And wlien they had gone, 
and the doors were shut, leaning on his valet de chambre, 
he tottered for the last time to his crimson couch. Could 
night recall the vanished dream? 

Still, heedless of the centuries, upon the arches of that 
sumptuous Galerie des Glaces, the Sun King sits serene. 
Out under the blue sky he drives his four-horse chariot amid 
the leaping waters, and the gilded device of his divinity still 
blazes on the railings that hedge his royal house. He is al- 
ways young, he is always victorious, he is always crowned 
with laurel, he is always superb. Each day he rises and sets 
with the same splendor, and in transit he gives light and life 
to all the world. 

* Saint-Simon, II, p. 350. 



219 



V 
ETIQUETTE 

VERSAILLES was a world in which all the no- 
bility revolved, according to their rank, each in 
his own orbit, like the stars and planets about 
the sun. Etiquette, invisible and absolute as 
gravitation, bound all, and an infraction of its laws was the 
unpardonable sin. Unseen itself, its visible manifestations 
appeared on all sides and at every moment. It worked noise- 
lessly by signs and wonders. It erected unseen barriers in 
the center of apartments; it closed doorways by intangible 
gates of steel; it placed one chair on the right hand and 
another on the left ; it arranged men in lines and half-circles ; 
it assembled them in certain apartments and in certain at- 
titudes; it dismissed them into other apartments and other 
attitudes ; and at all times and in all places it controlled their 
motions. It filled the atmosphere. Birth and death, love and 
marriage, pain and pleasure, were regulated by it and were 
subservient to it. It governed the throne and the altar. The 
king himself was but its chief custodian and interpreter. A 
lifetime was hardly sufficient to learn its mysteries. Men 
were its slaves, and women died for it. It assumed the 
attributes of Deity. 

Louis did not invent that etiquette. There exists a regula- 
tion of Henri III, under date of 1585, in which the etiquette 
of the court is nearly the same as that of Louis XIV; but 

220 



Etiquette 

Louis gave to it new dignity and precision, new force and 
power, and on a scale hitherto unknown. To enforce eti- 
quette, Louis himself was compelled to be ruled by etiquette, 
fie ceased to be a free agent, and etiquette became supreme. 

Since, then, the king yielded to the higher law, conformed 
to it, and became its perfect exemplar, all men found it nec- 
essary to do the same, according to their abilities, from the 
princes of the blood down through all ranks and grades 
of dukes and peers, of gentlemen-servants and valets de 
chamhre, to the pack-horse porters of the Kitchen. They 
moved obedient to the law, for in no other way could their 
personalities be verified, and the law, working silently by 
signs and wonders, expressed the exact relation of each star 
and planet in that solar system to the central sun, and their 
relations to one another. 

Follow the king to the promenade. " For ladies he took 
his hat off completely, but to a greater or less extent; for 
titled people half off, holding it in his hand or against his 
ear some instants, more or less riiarked; for the nobility he 
contented himself by putting his hand to his hat." In this 
instance a spectator, ignorant of the names and rank of 
those whom the king met, could have discovered their re- 
lation to His Majesty by observing carefully the working 
of the law as expressed by the royal hand and hat. 

And as the king, in conformity with the law, expressed 
daily and hourly the exact relation of each satellite to him- 
self, so they, moving in obedience to the law, expressed their 
relations to him and to one another. There was a form of 
salutation for Monseigneur, another for the princes of the 
blood, another for Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, another 
for the grand chamberlain, another for the first valet de 
chamhre of the king. To salute the grand huntsman of 
France as one saluted the grand master of the Wardrobe 
was to infringe the law. 

221 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

Nothing was too great for the law. Campaigns, receptions 
of ambassadors, state entries into Paris, fetes, triumphal 
tours through provinces, all were regulated by it with super- 
natural precision. And as nothing was too great for the 
law, so, also, nothing was too small. At the lever, amid 
the mechanism of the entrees of the blood royal, of the great 
officers of the crown, of the gentlemen of the Chamber, amid 
the transit of the royal shirt from the grand master to the 
grand chamberlain, from the grand chamberlain to Monsei- 
gneur, and from Monseigneur to Majesty, the law, unerring 
and invincible, placed the royal garters in the hands of a 
valet of the Wardrobe, by whom they were presented to the 
first valet of the Wardrobe, who presented them to the king ; 
in no other way could the personality of the first valet of 
the Wardrobe be verified. 

Observe the harmonious working of the law when a new 
satellite entered the solar system. " The next evening we 
Avent to Versailles," says Saint-Simon (after his marriage), 
" and were received by Madame de Maintenon and the king. 
On arriving at the supper-table, the king said to the new 
duchess, 'Madame, will you be pleased to seat yourself?' 
His napkin being unfolded, he saw all the duchesses and 
princesses still standing, and rising in his chair, he said to 
Madame de Saint-Simon, ' Madame, I have already begged 
you to be seated ' ; and all immediately seated themselves." 
The law, too, like that of the Medes and Persians, was unal- 
terable. " I have seen, at the king's dinner. Monsieur, ar- 
riving from St. Cloud, give the king his napkin and remain 
standing. A little while afterward, the king, seeing that he 
did not go away, asked him if he would not sit down; he 
bowed, and the king ordered a seat to be brought for him. 
A stool was put behind him. Some moments after the king 
said, * Nay then, sit down, my brother.' Monsieur bowed 
and seated himself until the end of the dinner, when he 

222 



Etiquette 

presented the napkin." In each of these instances, Madame 
de Saint-Simon and Monsieur remained standing, obHvious 
of the first request to be seated, until the words, " Madame, 
I have already begged you to be seated," " Nay then, sit down, 
my brother," announced the perfect fulfilment of the law. 

Observe, too, how easily one could be guilty of an infrac- 
tion of the law. Madame de Saint-Simon, so completely 
poised in her orbit at the king's supper, created discord at a 
reception of ambassadors in the apartments of the Duchesse 
de Bourgogne by deviating slightly from that orbit : " Ma- 
dame de Saint-Simon, feeling unwell, and tired of standing, 
seated herself upon the first cushion she could find. It so 
happened that in the position she thus occupied she had 
taken precedence of Madame d'Armagnac by two degrees. 
Madame d'Armagnac, perceiving it, spoke to her upon the 
subject. Madame de Saint-Simon, who had only placed 
herself there for a moment, did not reply, but went else- 
where." Here the discord was slight, since the wandering 
star, being but two degrees out of her orbit, returned to it 
at once. But note the frightful discord produced when a 
star, out of her orbit, crossed the pathway of the sun : " The 
ladies who were invited to Marly had the privilege of din- 
ing with the king. Tables were placed for them, and they 
took up positions according to their rank. The non-titled 
ladies had also their special place. It so happened one day 
that Madame de Torcy, an untitled lady, placed herself above 
the Duchesse de Duras, who arrived at table a moment after 
her. Madame de Torcy offered to give up her place, but as 
it was a little late, the offer passed away in compliments. 
The king entered, and put himself at table. As soon as 
he sat down, he saw the place Madame de Torcy had taken, 
and fixed such a serious and surprised look upon her that 
she again offered to give up her place to the Duchesse de 
Duras, but the offer was again declined. All through the 

223 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

dinner the king scarcely ever took his eyes off Madame de 
Torcy, said hardly a word, and bore a look of anger that ren- 
dered everybody very attentive, and even troubled the Duch- 
esse de Duras. Upon rising from the table, the king passed, 
according to custom, into the apartments of Madame de 
Maintenon, followed by the princesses of the blood, who 
grouped themselves around him upon stools ; the others, who 
entered, kept at a distance. Almost before he had seated 
himself in his chair, he said to Madame de Maintenon that 
he had just been witness of an act of ' incredible insolence ' 
(that was the term he used), which had thrown him into 
such a rage that he had been unable to eat; that such an 
enterprise would have been insupportable in a woman of 
the highest quality, but coming, as it did, from a mere bour- 
geoise, it had so affected him that ten times he had been 
upon the point of making her leave the table, and that he 
was only restrained by consideration for her husband. . . . 
He charged the princesses to tell Madame de Torcy to what 
extent he had found her conduct impertinent. . . . Torcy 
was obliged to write him a letter, apologizing for the fault 
of Madame de Torcy, and at this the king grew content. It 
may be imagined what a sensation this adventure produced 
through all the court." ^ 

It may easily be imagined, and unless it is imagined, unless 
one gains some conception of the invincibility and omnipo- 
tence of etiquette in the daily life of the court, one cannot 
understand the courtiers when they bring to the discussion of 
some trifling point of precedence an earnestness and an energy 
worthy of a better cause. 

^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 3. 



224 



IV 
THE COURT 



MADAME DE MAINTENON 

j^FTER the king, the chief personage at Versailles 
/\ ^^^ Madame de Maintenon. In approaching her 

/ \ presence, one almost hesitates to mention the fact 
^ \^ that she was formerly known as Madame Scarron, 
fearing to find oneself in the frightful predicament of Racine. 
" It happened one evening," says Saint-Simon, " that the 
king, talking with Racine upon the theater, in the presence 
of Madame de Maintenon, asked why comedy was so much 
out of fashion. Racine gave several reasons and concluded 
by naming the chief, namely, that for want of new pieces 
the comedians gave old ones, and among others those of 
Scarron, which were worth nothing and found no favor with 
anybody. At this the widow blushed, not for the reputa- 
tion of the cripple attacked, but at hearing his name uttered 
in the presence of his successor. The king was also embar- 
rassed, and the unhappy Racine, by the silence which fol- 
lowed, felt what a slip he had made. He remained the most 
confounded of the three, without daring to raise his eyes 
or to open his mouth. This silence did not terminate for 
several moments, so heavy and profound was the surprise. 
The end was that the king sent away Racine, saying that he 
was going to work. The poet never afterward recovered 
his position. Neither the king nor Madame de Maintenon 
ever spoke to him again, or even looked at him." 

From this it may be seen that Mme. la Marquise de Main- 

22'J 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

tenon had a past. She had also a brother. " Her brother, 
who was called the Comte d'Aubigne, was of but little worth, 
and yet always spoke as though no man were his equal, com- 
plained that he had not been made Marshal of France, some- 
times said that he had taken his baton in money, and con- 
stantly bullied Madame de Maintenon because she did not 
make him a duke and a peer. He spent his time running 
after girls in the Tuileries, always had several on his hands, 
and lived and spent his money with their families and friends 
of the same kidney. He was just fit for a strait-waistcoat, 
but comical, full of wit and unexpected repartees; a good, 
humorous fellow, honest and polite, and not too impertinent 
on account of his sister's fortune. Yet it was a pleasure to 
hear him talk of the time of Scarron and the Hotel d'Albret, 
and of the gallantries and adventures of his sister, which he 
contrasted with her present position and devotion. He would 
talk in this manner, not before one or two, but in a compro- 
mising manner, quite openly in the Tuileries gardens, or in 
the galleries of Versailles, before everybody, and would often 
drolly speak of the king as ' the brother-in-law.' ... A 
brother like this was a great annoyance to Madame de Main- 
tenon." 

But whatever scandals there may have been in the life 
of Madame Scarron, there were none in the life of Madame 
de Maintenon. To the court she was the personification of 
piety and the touchstone of correctness. Her brother must 
have been a very great annoyance to her. 

The friendship which the Marquise de Montespan formed 
for her proved to be the foundation of her fortunes. The 
young Due du Maine and Mile, de Nantes, at that time not 
publicly acknowledged, were confided to her care, and in 
assuming the post of governess of the royal bastards she was 
clever enough to insist that the request should come from 
the father as well as from the mother, that she should hold 

228 



Madame de Maintenon 



the office directly from the king. With the money she re- 
ceived as a recompense for the care and devotion she gave 
the Due du Maine, she bought the estate of Maintenon in 
1674, paying fifteen thousand Hvres, and receiving from the 
king the title of Marquise de Maintenon. But the king dis- 
liked her, and she owed the money, estate, and title to the 
continued solicitations of Madame de Montespan in her be- 
half. When she was sent to Cauterets with the Due du 
Maine, on account of his health, she wrote frequently to 
Madame de Montespan. Madame de Montespan handed 
these letters to Louis to read, that he might learn how his 
son was progressing, and the king found them so well ex- 
pressed and so interesting and agreeable that he began to 
regard the Marquise de Maintenon in another light. 

" The ill humor of Madame de Montespan," says Saint- 
Simon, " finished the work. She had a good deal of that 
quality and had become accustomed to give it full swing. 
The king was the object of it more frequently than any- 
body. Madame de Maintenon reproached Madame de Mon- 
tespan for this, and thus advanced herself in the king's favor. 
By degrees the king grew accustomed to speak sometimes to 
Madame de Maintenon, to tell her what he wished her to 
say to Madame de Montespan, and at last to relate to her 
the chagrins the latter caused him, and to consult her there- 
upon. Admitted thus into the intimate confidence of the 
lover and the mistress, and this by the king's own doing, 
Madame de Maintenon knew well how to cultivate it, and 
profited so well by her industry that by degrees she sup- 
planted Madame de Montespan, who perceived, too late, that 
her friend had become necessary to the king." It was a hard 
blow for Madame de Montespan. " The king arrived (in 
the apartments of the dauphine) ; I then had the pleasure 
of seeing him, not two paces from me, before my very eyes, 
saying witty and agreeable things to the Marquise de Main- 



229 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

tenon, while he only talked to me of the rain and the wea- 
ther." 1 

The crisis came soon after, when the king, who was much 
in love with her, wished to make her his mistress. She had 
seen the fall of La Valliere and the rise of Montespan, and 
now Montespan was falling. Madame de Maintenon was toa 
consummate a schemer to be caught. Her love for Louis, 
such as it was, probably never gave her a single palpitation 
of the heart ; she was always too perfectly poised and too in- 
fallible. Nor should one infer that she dreamed then of one 
day succeeding Marie Therese. The queen was in good 
health and bade fair to outlive Maintenon. Even if Her 
Majesty died shortly, what prospect was there that the pride 
of the Grand Monarch would suffer him to contract such a 
mesalliance? Cloaking herself in piety, Madame de Main- 
tenon played the coquette; she charmed, she fascinated, and 
she evaded him; she allured and she preached, for a period 
of six or seven years. " His Majesty retires disconsolate," 
she says in one of her letters, " but never hopeless " ; and in 
another, " I send him away always distressed, but never de- 
spairing." ^ What astonishing skill and tact ! But he was not 
asking her to be his wife; he was asking her to be his mis- 
tress; and if her virtue and piety had really been what she 
and many others wish us to believe they were, would she not 
have given him an answer once and for all that would have 
settled the matter? When Louis XV made a proposition of 
the same sort to Madame de Perigord, Madame de Perigord 
instantly left the court. " Nothing is more clever than irre- 
proachable behavior," said Madame de Maintenon at a later 
period. At the time in question, her behavior, irreproachable 
and undeniably clever, leads one to doubt her sincerity. If 
up to the summer of 1683, when he became free to make her 

^ Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, II, p. 167. 
^ Madame de Maintenon to Madame de Frontenac, 1677. 

230 



Madame de Maintenon 



his wife, the king never lost the hope of making her his mis- 
tress, was it not because she played the false prude, almost 
to the hour that he married her ? 

However that may be, married she was to the King of 
France and Navarre, secretly and at night in the chapel of 
Versailles on the 12th of June, 1684.^ Bontemps, the king's 
first valet de chamhre, prepared the altar; Pere La Chaise 
said mass; the Archbishop of Paris read the marriage ser- 
vice ; Louvois, Minister of War, and Montchevreuil were the 
witnesses. The archbishop and Louvois both drew from the 
king a solemn promise that he would never declare this mar- 
riage. There were rumors of the marriage almost imme- 
diately, but nobody at court was certain for some time. 
Nearly four years later, the Palatine, in a letter under date 
of April 14, 1688, writes : " I cannot find out whether the 
king has married Madame de Maintenon, or not. Many peo- 
ple say she is his wife, and that the Archbishop of Paris 
has married them in the presence of the king's confessor 
and Maintenon's brother. Other people say this is not true, 
and it is impossible to find out what the facts are." 

While people were thus discussing the matter, Mme. la 
Marquise de Maintenon was installed in her apartments at 
the head of the marble staircase, opposite the Hall of the 
King's Guards, and the first signs of her greatness were 
that she dropped at once the title Marquise, and was called 
always Madame de Maintenon, that the king in referring 
to her dropped the Maintenon, as too trivial, and called her 
simply Madame, and that her servants, in her own apartments 
only, addressed her as " Your Majesty." 

If in the days of her favor Madame de Montespan had had 
a " haughtiness in everything that reached to the clouds," 

^ The date is sometimes given as the matter, and he gives the date as 
January, 1684. Lavallee seems to June, 1684. 
be the most reliable authority on 



231 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

one can imagine what she must have suffered when she was 
forced to pay her visit of ceremony to the new wife of the 
Grand Monarch. " A few days after the marriage, my health 
being somewhat reestablished, I went to Petit-Bourg; but 
the Marechal de Vivonne, his son Louis de Vivonne, all the 
Mortemarts, all the Rochehouarts, Thianges, Seignelays, 
and Blainvilles, — in a word, counts, marquises, barons, and 
duchesses, — came to find me and attack me in my desert, 
in order to represent to me that since Madame de Maintenon 
was now the wife of the king, I owed her my homage and my 
respectful compliments. ' The whole family has done so,' 
said these cruel relations ; ' you only have not yet fulfilled this 
duty. You must do it, in God's name. She has neither airs 
nor hauteur; you will be marvelously well received. Your 
resistance would compromise us all.' Not desiring to harm 
or displease my family, and wishing above all to reinstate 
myself somewhat in the king's mind, I resolutely prepared 
for this distressing journey, and God gave me the necessary 
strength to execute it. I appeared in a long robe of gold 
and silver before the new wife of the monarch. The king, 
who was sitting at a table, rose for a moment and encouraged 
me by his greeting. I made the three pauses and the three 
reverences as I gradually approached Madame de Maintenon, 
who occupied a large and rich arm-chair of brocade. She 
did not rise ; etiquette forbade it, and principally the presence 
of the king. Her complexion, ordinarily pale, and with a 
very slight tone of pink, was animated suddenly, and took 
all the colors of the rose. She made me a sign to seat myself 
on a stool, and it seemed to me that her amiable gaze apolo- 
gized to me. She spoke to me of Petit-Bourg, of the waters 
of Bourbon, of her country place, of my children, and said 
to me, smiling, ' I am going to confide in you. M. le Prince 
has already asked Mile, de Nantes for his grandson, M. le 
Due de Bourbon, and His Highness promises us his grand- 

232 




Frangoise Athenais de Rochechouart, Marquise de Montespan 



Madame de Maintenon 



daughter for our Due du Maine. Two or three years more, 
and we shall see all that.' " It must have been extremely 
gratifying to Madame de Montespan to be told in confidence 
what the future of her children was to be. In the days of 
her favor she had loyally helped and cherished Madame de 
Maintenon, praised her when the king disparaged her, re- 
tained her when the king wished to send her away, and made 
her the governess of those very children whom Madame de 
Maintenon, with her " our Due du Maine," now so coolly 
appropriated to the king and herself. The poor woman from 
her stool could contemplate her work in the arm-chair of 
brocade, where sat her false friend, la Toute-Puissante. 
" After half an hour spent thus, I rose from this uncomfort- 
able stool and made my farewell reverences. Madame de 
Maintenon, profiting by the king's having leaned over to 
write, rose five or six inches in her chair, and said to me 
these words : ' Do not let us cease to love one another, I im- 
plore you.' I came out from Madame de Maintenon by the 
door of mirrors which leads to the great gallery. There 
was much company there at the moment. The Prince de 
Salm came to meet me and said, ' You are flushed, and I 
can perfectly well understand why.' He pressed my hand af- 
fectionately. In all the salons they were eager to see me 
pass. Some courageous persons even came within touch of 
my fan, and all were more or less pleased with my downfall. 
I had seen all these figures at my feet, and almost all were 
under obligations to me." ^ 

In the Due de Saint-Simon's wonderful gallery there is 
hardly a portrait with which he has taken more pains than 
that of Madame de Maintenon. " Madame de Maintenon 
was a woman of much wit, which the good company, in 
which she had at first been merely tolerated, but in which 
she soon shone, had polished. The various positions she 

^ Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, II, p. 349. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

had held had rendered her flattering, insinuating, com- 
plaisant, always seeking to please. The need she had of in- 
trigues, those she had seen of all kinds, and been mixed up 
in for herself and for others, had given her the taste, the abil- 
ity, and the habit of them. Incomparable grace, an easy 
manner, and yet measured and respectful, which in conse- 
quence of her long obscurity had become natural to her, 
marvelously aided her talents; her language was gentle, ex- 
act, well expressed, and naturally eloquent and brief. Her 
best time, for she was three or four years older than the 
king, had been the dainty phrase period, the superfine gal- 
lantry days, and it had so influenced her that she always 
retained evidences of it. She put on afterward an air of 
importance, but this gradually gave place to one of devout- 
ness that she wore admirably. She was not absolutely false 
by disposition, but necessity had made her so, and her natural 
flightiness made her appear twice as false as she was. Her 
flightiness or inconstancy was of the most dangerous kind. 
With the exception of some of her old friends, to whom she 
had good reasons for remaining faithful, she favored people 
one moment only to cast them off the next. You were ad- 
mitted to an audience with her, for instance, you pleased 
her in some manner, and forthwith she unbosomed herself 
to you as though you had known her from childhood. At 
the second audience you found her dry, laconic, cold. You 
racked your brains to discover the cause of this change. 
Mere loss of time! Flightiness was the sole reason of it. 
The distress and poverty in which she had so long lived 
had narrowed her mind and abased her heart and sentiments. 
Her feelings and thoughts were so circumscribed that she 
was in truth always inferior to what Madame Scarron should 
have been, and in everything and everywhere she found her- 
self such. Nothing was more repelling than this meanness, 
joined to a situation so radiant. 

234 



Madame de Maintenon 



" Devoutness was her strong point ; by that she governed 
and held her place. . . . The profound ignorance of religion 
in which the king had been educated, and kept all his life, ren- 
dered him from the first an easy prey to the Jesuits. He be- 
came even more so with years, when he grew devout. Religion 
became his weak point. In this state it was easy to persuade 
him that a decisive and tremendous blow struck against the 
Protestants would give his name more grandeur than any 
of his ancestors had acquired, besides strengthening his 
power and increasing his authority. Madame de Maintenon 
was one of those who did most to make him believe this. 

" It must not be imagined that in order to maintain her 
position Madame de Maintenon had no need of address ; her 
reign, on the contrary, was only one continual intrigue. Her 
mornings, which she commenced very early, were occupied 
with obscure audiences for charitable or spiritual affairs. 
Pretty often at eight o'clock in the morning, or earlier, she 
went to some minister; the ministers of war, above all those 
of finance, were those with whom she had most business. 
Ordinarily, as soon as she rose, she went to St. Cyr, dined 
in her apartment there alone, or with some favorite of the 
house, gave as few audiences as possible, ruled over the ar- 
rangements of the establishment, meddled with the affairs 
of convents, read and replied to letters, received information 
and letters from her spies, and returned to Versailles just 
as the king was ready to enter her apartments. When with 
the king in her own room, they each occupied an arm-chair, 
with a table between them, at either side of the fireplace, 
hers toward the bed, the king's with its back to the wall 
where was the door of the antechamber; two stools were 
before the table, one for the minister who came to work, 
the other for his papers. During the work Madame de 
Maintenon read or worked at tapestry. She heard all that 
passed between the king and his minister, for they spoke out 



235 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

loud. Rarely did she say anything, or, if so, it was of no 
moment. The king often asked her opinion; then she re- 
plied with great discretion. Never did she appear to lay 
stress on anything, still less to interest herself for anybody r. 
but she had an understanding with the minister, who did not 
dare to oppose her in private, still less to trip in her presence. 
When some favor or some post was to be granted, the mat- 
ter was arranged between them beforehand; and this it was 
that sometimes delayed her, without the king or anybody 
knowing the cause. She would send word to the minister 
that she wished to speak with him. He did not dare to bring 
anything forward until he had received her orders, until the 
revolving mechanism of each day had given them the leisure 
to confer together. That done, the minister proposed and 
showed a list. If by chance the king stopped at the name 
Madame de Maintenon wished, the minister stopped too, and 
went no further. If the king stopped at some other, the 
minister proposed that he should look at those which were 
also fitting, allowed the king leisure to make his observations,, 
and profited by them to exclude the people who were not 
wanted. Rarely did he propose expressly the name to which 
he wished to come, but always suggested several that he tried 
to balance against each other, so as to embarrass the king 
in his choice. Then the king asked the minister's opinion, 
and the minister, after touching upon other names, fixed 
upon the one he had selected. The king asked Madame de 
Maintenon what she thought. She smiled, shammed inca- 
pacity, said a word upon some other name, then returned, 
if she had not fixed herself there at first, to that which the 
minister had proposed; so that three fourths of the favors 
and opportunities which passed through the h&nds of the 
ministers in her apartments were disposed of by her, with- 
out the king's having the least suspicion. Yet the king was 
constantly on his guard, not only against Madame de Main- 

236 



Madame de Maintenon 



tenon, but against his ministers also. Many a time it hap- 
pened that when sufficient care had not been taken, and he 
perceived that a minister or a general wished to favor a 
relative or protege of Madame de Maintenon, he firmly op- 
posed the appointment on that account alone, and the remarks 
he uttered thereupon made Madame de Maintenon very timid 
and very measured when she wished openly to ask a favor. 
By these particulars it will be seen that this clever woman 
did nearly all she wished, but not always when or how she 
wished. 

" Toward nine o'clock in the evening two waiting-women 
came to undress her. Immediately afterward her maitre 
d'hotel brought her supper, soup or something light. As 
soon as she had finished her meal, her women put her to bed, 
and meanwhile the king and his minister did not cease work- 
ing or speak lower. This done, ten o'clock had arrived ; the 
curtains of Madame de Maintenon's bed were drawn, and the 
king, after saying good night to her, went to supper." 

In her new position Madame de Maintenon found both 
Monsieur and Monseigneur hostile to her. Monseigneur, how- 
ever, was too dutiful a son to refuse to pay his court. Mon- 
sieur came as seldom as he could ; " it was not her success 
that annoyed him, but simply the idea that Madame Scarron 
had become his sister-in-law; that was insupportable to him." 
Madame, his wife, could not endure her, and, in her turn, 
Madame de Maintenon did all she could to prejudice the king 
against the Palatine. This attitude of the royal family was 
natural enough, and yet the king might have done worse 
than marry Madame de Maintenon. 

He secured for his wife a very beautiful and imposing 
woman, who possessed " incomparable grace." Madame de 
Montespan herself testifies to the personal charm of her false 
friend : " Madame de Maintenon was already forty-four years 
old, and only appeared to be thirty. This freshness, that she 



237 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

owed either to painstaking care or to her happy and quite 
peculiar constitution, gave her that air of youth which fas- 
cinated the eyes of the courtiers and of the king." She was 
forty-nine when she married Louis, and probably appeared 
about thirty-five. She had wit and intellect and tact, and she 
was serenity itself. " For twenty-six years," said she (at 
a later period), "I never displayed the slightest impatience 
at any time." With her gracious bearing and her calm, even 
temper, she must have seemed to a king of forty-six, who 
had buried his queen and cast off his mistresses, the ideal 
wife for his old age. Then, too, she was pious and devout, 
she wished to withdraw the king from the world and give 
him to God; she had no ambitions, she desired to meddle 
in nothing, she was grateful when her husband took her into 
his confidence, but she longed only to save his soul. It seemed 
almost too wonderful to be true. It was not true. 

The one genuine thing about Madame de Maintenon was 
her personal beauty; that she did not owe to art. Under 
the guise of humility and nothingness she was devoured by 
pride and ambition; she labored unceasingly to get herself 
declared Queen of France; she meddled with everything and 
wished to rule in everything; she placed herself in the hands 
of the Jesuits and worked with all her might to bring about 
the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes ; she seized on religion 
to elevate herself, and assumed toward the court a position 
of papal infallibility — what she said was right to do, was 
right, and what she said was wrong, was wrong; she filled 
the king with all sorts of scruples that gave her a tighter 
grip; she manoeuvered to have him work with his ministers 
in her apartments, that she might know all that was being 
done ; she tricked him before his very eyes, and kept the min- 
isters under her thumb ; she was frightfully vindictive, never 
forgot or forgave any one who crossed her, and crushed those 
who stood in her way, as fast as she could, without mercy; 

238 



Madame de Maintenon 



she kept everybody gravitating about her apartments; and 
yet she was always telling her girls and women at St. Cyr 
that she was nobody and had nothing, that she " yearned after 
her obscurity,"' and that she needed sympathy in her hard 
lot. 

She strikes that note in the following letter to Madame de 
Glapion, dame de St. Cyr: " I have often told you that the 
only time I can take for my prayers and the mass is when 
other people sleep, for when people once begin to enter my 
room, I am not my own mistress, I have not an instant to my- 
self. They begin to come in about half-past seven in the 
morning. First is Marechal ; ^ he has no sooner gone than 
M. Fagon ^ enters ; he is followed by M. Bloin,^ or some one 
else sent to inquire how I am. Sometimes I have press- 
ing letters to write which I must get in here. Next come 
persons of greater consequence: one day, M. de Chamillart; 
another, the archbishop ; to-day, a general of the army on the 
point of departure ; to-morrow, an audience that I must give, 
having been demanded under such circumstances that I can- 
not defer it. M. le Due du Maine waited in my antechamber 
the other day until M. de Chamillart had finished. When he 
went out, M. du Maine came in, and kept me until the king 
arrived; for there is a little etiquette in this, that no one 
leaves me till some one of higher rank enters and sends them 
away. When the king comes, they all have to go. The king 
stays till he goes to mass. I do not know if you have ob- 
served that all this time I am not yet dressed. I still have my 
nightcap on, but my room by this time is like a church, a per- 
petual procession is going on; everybody passes through it; 
the comings and goings are endless. The Duchesse de 
Bourgogne comes with a number of ladies, and there they 
stay while I eat my dinner. Around me stand a circle of 

* The king's surgeon. * The king's physician. 

' The king's first valet de chambre. 



239 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

ladies, so that I cannot even ask for something to drink. I 
turn to them sometimes and say, ' This is a great honor for 
me, but I would like to have a footman.' With that, each of 
them wants to serve me, and hastens to bring me what I want, 
but this is only another sort of embarrassment and annoyance 
to me. At last they go off to dine themselves ; for my dinner 
is at twelve o'clock with Madame d'Heudicourt and Madame 
de Dangeau, who are invalids. Here I am at last alone with 
them ; every one else has gone. I might amuse myself now 
for a moment with a game at backgammon, but usually Mon- 
seigneur takes this time to come and see me, because on some 
days he does not dine, and on other days he has dined early 
and so comes after the others. He is the hardest man in the 
world to talk with, for he never says a word. I must try to 
entertain him because I am in my own apartment. If I were 
elsewhere, I could lean back in my chair and say nothing if I 
chose, but now I must manage to find something to say, and 
that is not very enlivening. When the king returns from 
hunting, he comes to me ; then my door is closed, and no one 
enters. Here I am then alone with him. I must bear his 
troubles, if he has any, his sadness, his nervous dejection; 
sometimes he bursts into tears which he cannot control, or else 
he complains of illness. Then a minister comes, and the king 
works with him. While the king continues to work, I sup, 
but it is not once in two months that I can do so at my ease. 
I feel that the king has almost finished with the minister; 
sometimes he wants to show me something, so that I am al- 
ways hurried. The only thing I can do is to eat very fast, 
and I am often oppressed by it. I have been about since six 
in the morning, and have not breathed freely the whole day. 
I am overcome with weariness. Sometimes the king per- 
ceives it, and says, ' You are very tired, are you not ? You 
ought to go to bed.' So I go to bed. My women come and 
undress me, but I feel that the king wants to talk with me, and 

240 



Madame de Maintenon 



is waiting till they go, or some minister still remains, and I 
fear my women will hear what he says. What can I do? I 
hurry, I hurry, so that I almost faint, and you must know 
that all my life I have hated to be hurried. At last I am in 
bed. I send away my women. The king approaches, and 
sits down by my pillow. What can I do then ? I am in bed, 
but I have need of many things ; mine is not a glorified body 
without wants. There is no one there whom I can ask for 
what I need, not a single woman. It is not because I could 
not have them, for the king is full of kindness, and if he 
thought I wanted one woman, he would endure ten. But it 
never comes into his head that I am constraining myself. 
He believes that if I show no wants, I have none." 

This letter probably rendered Madame de Glapion quite 
contented with the quiet life of St. Cyr, and not at all envious 
of Madame de Maintenon in her splendid apartments at Ver- 
sailles. It contains a good deal of exaggeration and false 
coloring. Madame de Maintenon left nothing undone to 
keep the king, the Duchesse de Bourgogne, the Due de Bour- 
gogne, the Due du Maine, and the princesses in her apart- 
ments as much as possible, that she might know all that was 
going on, and have in hand every scrap of information needed 
for her back-stairs diplomacy. This of course imposed on 
her a heavy burden, and undoubtedly the etiquette was very 
fatiguing. As she grew older, and her hope of being de- 
clared Queen of France vanished, her physical weariness was 
stronger than any other emotion. But before that time came, 
her pet pose was humility and nothingness. 

Mention has been made of St. Cyr. It was an institution 
in which perpetual hosannas were raised to the name of 
Maintenon. The idea of founding a school where the daugh- 
ters of nobles who were poor could be educated at the expense 
of the state was a good one, and does Madame de Maintenon 
credit. She gained largely by it, however. It gave her a 

16 



241 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

place where she could carry out her passion for directing the 
lives of the young, where she could create her own atmo- 
sphere, and to which she could retire in opulence if she lost 
the king. " The establishment of St. Cyr," says Saint- 
Simon, " which had more than four hundred thousand livres' 
yearly income, and much money in reserve, was obliged by 
the rules which founded it to receive Madame de Maintenon, 
if she wished to retire there ; to obey her in all things as the 
absolute and sole superior; to keep her and everybody con- 
nected with her, her domestics, her equipages, her table, 
at the expense of the house." As St. Cyr was founded 
in the year which followed her marriage with the king, 
it may be seen that Madame de Maintenon had an eye for 
the future. 

" The declaration of her marriage was always her most 
ardent desire. She wished above all things to be proclaimed 
queen, and never lost sight of the idea. Once she was near 
indeed to seeing it gratified. The king had actually given 
her his word that she should be declared, and the ceremony 
was about to take place. But it was postponed, and forever, 
by the representations of Louvois to the king. . . . Louvois 
had gained the confidence of the king to such an extent that 
he had been one of the two witnesses of the marriage of His 
Majesty with Madame de Maintenon. He had the courage 
to show he was worthy of this confidence by representing to 
the king the ignominy of declaring that marriage, and drew 
from him his word that never in his life would he do so. 
Several years afterward, Louvois, who took care to be well 
informed of all that passed in the palace, found out that 
Madame de Maintenon had been scheming again in order to 
be declared queen, that the king had had the weakness to 
promise that she should be, and that the declaration was about 
to be made. He put some papers in his hand, and went at 
once to the king, who was in his private apartment. Seeing 

242 




Frangoise d'Aubigne, Marquise de jNIaintenon 



Madame de Maintenon 



Louvois at an unexpected hour, the king asked him what 
brought him there. ' Something pressing and important/ 
replied Louvois, with a sad manner that astonished the king, 
and induced him to command the valets present to quit the 
room. They went away, in fact, but left the door open, so 
that they could hear all, and see all, too, by the glass. This 
was the great danger of the cabinets. The valets being gone, 
Louvois did not dissimulate from the king his mission. Sur- 
prised At being discovered, the king tried to shuffle out of the 
matter, and, pressed by his minister, began to move so as to 
gain the other cabinet where the valets were, and thus deliver 
himself. But Louvois, who perceived what the king was 
about, threw himself on his knees and stopped him, drew 
from his side a little sword he wore, presented the handle to 
the king, and prayed him to kill him on the spot if he would 
persist in declaring his marriage, in breaking his word, and 
in covering himself in the eyes of Europe with ignominy. 
The king stamped, fumed, and told Louvois to let him go. 
But Louvois squeezed him tighter by the legs for fear he 
would escape, represented to him the shame of what he had 
decided on doing ; in a word, succeeded so well that he drew 
for the second time from the king a promise that the marriage 
should never be declared. Madame de Maintenon, mean- 
while, expected every moment to be proclaimed queen. At 
the end of some days, disturbed by the silence of the king, 
she ventured to touch upon the subject. The embarrassment 
she caused the king much troubled her. He softened the 
affair as much as he could, but finished by begging her to 
think no more of being declared, and never to speak of it to 
him again. After the first shock that the loss of her hopes 
caused her, she sought to find out to whom she was beholden 
for it. She soon learned the truth, and it is not surprising 
that she swore to obtain Louvois's disgrace, and never ceased 
to work at it until successful. She waited her opportunity. 



243 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

and undermined her enemy at leisure, availing herself of 
every occasion to make him odious to the king." ^ 

Thus in spite of her great success, and her astonishing 
influence over the Grand Monarch, Madame de Maintenon 
never realized her chief ambition of being proclaimed Queen 
of France. Her position, however, was none the less com- 
manding, and the king, who loved her more than she loved 
him, treated her always in public with marked deference. 
Nothing better illustrates that deference than the famous 
scene at the camp of Compiegne (1698) : " The king wished 
to show the court all the manoeuvers of war; the siege of 
Compiegne was therefore undertaken, according to due form, 
with lines, trenches, batteries, mJnes, etc. On Saturday, the 
13th of September, the assault took place. To witness it the 
king, Madame de Maintenon, all the ladies of the court, and a 
number of gentlemen stationed themselves upon an old ram- 
part from which the plain and all the dispositions of the 
troops could be seen. I was in the half-circle very close to 
the king. It was the most beautiful sight that can be 
imagined, to see all that army, and the prodigious number of 
spectators on horse and foot, and that game of attack and 
defense so cleverly conducted. But a spectacle of another 
sort, that I could paint forty years hence as well as to-day, so 
strongly did it strike me, was that which from the summit of 
this rampart the king gave to all his army, and to the innu- 
merable crowd of spectators of all kinds in the plain below. 
Madame de Maintenon faced the plain and the troops in her 
sedan-chair, alone, between its three windows drawn up, her 
porters having retired to a distance^ On the left pole in 
front sat Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne ; and on the same 
side, standing in a semicircle, were Mme. la Duchesse, Mme. 
la Princesse de Conti, and all the ladies, and behind them, 
again, many men. At the right window of the sedan-chair 
* Saint-Simon, III, p. 6. 
244 



Madame de Maintenon 



stood the king, and a little in the rear a semicircle of the most 
distinguished men of the court. The king was nearly always 
uncovered, and every now and then stooped to speak to 
Madame de Maintenon, to explain to her what she saw, and 
the reason for each movement. Each time that he did so she 
was obliging enough to open the window four or five inches, 
but never half-way, for I noticed particularly, and I admit 
that I was more attentive to this spectacle than to that of the 
troops. Sometimes she opened of her own accord to ask 
some question of him, but generally it was he who, without 
waiting for her, stooped down to instruct her of what was 
passing ; and sometimes, if she did not notice him, he tapped 
at the glass to make her open it. He never spoke, save to 
her, except when he gave a few brief orders, or just answered 
Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, who wanted to make him 
speak, and with whom Madame de Maintenon carried on a 
conversation by signs, without opening the front window, 
through which the young duchess screamed to her from time 
to time. I watched the countenance of every one carefully; 
all expressed surprise tempered with prudence and shame, 
that was, as it were, ashamed of itself; every one behind the 
chair and in the semicircle watched this scene more than what 
was going on in the army. The king often put his hat on 
the top of the chair in order to get his head in to speak, and 
this continual exercise tired his loins very much. Monsei- 
gneur was on horseback in the plain with the young princes. 
It was about five o'clock in the afternoon, and the weather 
was as brilliant as could be desired. . . . Toward the mo- 
ment of the capitulation, Madame de Maintenon apparently 
asked permission to go away, for the king cried, ' The chair- 
men of Madame ! ' They came and took her away ; in less 
than a quarter of an hour afterward the king retired also, and 
nearly everybody else. There was much interchange of 
glances, nudging with elbows, and then whisperings in the 



245 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

ear. Everybody was full of what had taken place on the 
rampart between the king and Madame de Maintenon. Even 
the soldiers asked what meant that sedan-chair, and the king 
stooping every moment to put his head inside of it. It be- 
came necessary gently to silence these questions of the troops. 
What effect this sight had upon the foreigners present, and 
what they said of it, may be imagined. All over Europe it 
was as much talked of as the camp of Compiegne itself." ^ 

According to her lights, and his, Madame de Maintenon 
achieved the king's salvation. But at what a frightful cost! 
"The king," she had written in 1681, "begins to think se- 
riously of his salvation and that of his subjects. If God pre- 
serves him to us, there will be no longer but one religion in 
the kingdom. This is the feeling of M. de Louvois, and I 
believe him more willingly upon the subject than M. de Col- 
bert, who thinks only of his finances and scarcely ever of his 
religion." A few years later, she would not have believed 
Louvois under oath on any subject. Poor Colbert! Work- 
ing early and late to develop the resources of France, and per- 
forming the labors of Hercules in his endeavor to maintain 
some proportion between the receipts and expenditures of a 
Sun King, what time had he to think of anything but 
finances? To France he was worth a wilderness of Mainte- 
nons. For Maintenon was fatal to France. The havoc 
wrought by a wife who achieved religious intolerance was far 
more serious than the scandal of a mistress who gave fetes. 
" The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, without the slight- 
est pretext or necessity, was the fruit of a frightful plot in 
which the new wife of the king was one of the chief conspira- 
tors, and which depopulated a quarter of the realm, ruined its 
commerce, weakened it in every direction, tore in pieces a 
world of families, armed relatives against relatives, banished 
French manufactures to foreign lands and enabled them to 

^ Saint-Simon, I, p. 128. 
246 



Madame de Maintenon 



flourish at the expense of France, and gave to the world the 
spectacle of a prodigious population proscribed, stripped, 
fugitive, wandering, without crime, and seeking shelter far 
from their country."^ To place all the responsibility for this 
wide-spread misery on the shoulders of a woman would be 
unjust and inaccurate. A spirit of intolerance pervaded the 
whole Roman Catholic party in France; but Madame de 
Maintenon was the personification of that spirit, and she, 
more even than Pere La Chaise, had the ear of the king. 

She never really loved him; and when at the last he lay 
dying, and there was nothing more to be gained, she was old 
and weary, and so anxious to get herself settled at St. Cyr 
that she threw off her mask and revealed herself. " In the 
evening (August 29, 171 5) it was known that the king had 
only recovered for a moment. . . . His brain appeared con- 
fused; he himself said he felt very ill. Toward eleven 
o'clock his leg was examined. The gangrene was found to 
be in the foot and knee; the thigh was much inflamed. He 
swooned during this examination. He had perceived with 
much pain that Madame de Maintenon was no longer near 
him. She had in fact gone off on the previous day with very 
dry eyes to St. Cyr, not intending to return. He asked for 
her several times during the day. Her departure could not 
be hidden. He sent for her to St. Cyr, and she came back in 
the evening. Friday, August 30th, was a very bad day, pre- 
ceded by a bad night. The king continually lost his reason. 
About five o'clock in the evening Madame de Maintenon left 
him, gave away her furniture to her domestics, and went to 
St. Cyr, never to leave it." She departed, then, at five 
o'clock on Friday, the 30th of August, but the king did not 
die until quarter past eight on Sunday, the ist of September; 
and yet Madame de Maintenon wrote a few days later to the 
Princesse des Ursins a letter in which she said, " I have seen 

^ Saint- Simon, III, p. 3. 
247 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

the king die like a saint and a hero." Whatever opinion one 
may have as to the truth of that Hne, there is no doubt as to 
the accuracy of the next : " I am in a most comfortable re- 
treat." She had had a pension of forty-eight thousand 
livres a year from the king, and as the Due d' Orleans, in 
spite of all the harm she had done him, was generous enough 
to continue her pension, all her household expenses, of course, 
being paid by St. Cyr, she passed the remaining four years of 
her life in opulence and in an atmosphere of hosannas. She 
was over eighty when the king died, and had earned her re- 
pose.^ 

When Peter the Great came to France in 17 17, he did not 
forget to visit St. Cyr. " On Friday, the nth of June, he 
went from Versailles to St. Cyr, where he saw all the house- 
hold, and the girls in their classes. He was received there 
like the king. He wished to see Madame de Maintenon, who, 
expecting his curiosity, had buried herself in her bed, all the 
curtains closed, except one which was half open. The Czar 
entered her chamber, pulled back the window-curtains upon 
arriving, then the bed-curtains, took a good long stare at her, 
said not a word to her, nor did she open her lips, and, with- 
out making her any kind of reverence, went his way."^ 

In like fashion we draw aside the curtain of the centuries, 
we take a good long stare at her, and having seen her as she 
was, without making her any kind of reverence, we go our 
way. 

* Madame de Maintenon died at St. Cyr on the 15th of April, 1719. 
' Saint-Simon, III, p. 98. 



248 




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Louis of France, Grand Dauphin 



II 

MONSEIGNEUR 

IGNORANCE sat hard on Monseigneur, but it was not 
for lack of the means of education. If the Grand Mon- 
arch could have had in his youth as splendid a school- 
ing as that he planned for his eldest son, he would un- 
doubtedly have avoided many of the errors into which he fell. 
What the father himself had lacked, he was determined that 
the son should have, that he might truly be the Grand Dau- 
phin, a complete man, a model prince, and in the future a 
great king. Montausier, the highest representative in French 
society of morality and intelligence, was one preceptor; the 
great Bossuet was another. Blondel taught him mathe- 
matics; Flechier and Tillemont wrote for him lives of 
Theodosius and St. Louis; Huet, Pierre Danet, and Pere de 
la Rue published ad usum Delphini, that splendid edition of 
the Latin classics, with notes and explanations, that Mon- 
seigneur might enter the realm of antiquity; Bossuet un- 
folded before the eyes of his royal pupil in his Universal His- 
tory the rise and fall of nations, the duties of kings to God, 
and of men to kings; and, to crown the work, the Grand 
Monarch himself wrote his Memoirs, for the use of his son, 
explaining how he governed, and declaring that only by work, 
and by continuous work, could a sovereign rule as well as 
reign. How bitter then must have been Louis's secret dis- 
appointment when the son on whom such hopes were centered 
turned out to be only the greatest wolf-hunter of the time ! 

249 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

" Monseigneur was rather tall than short," says Saint- 
Simon; "very fat, but without being bloated; with a very 
lofty and noble aspect without any harshness ; and he would 
have had a very agreeable face if M. le Prince de Conti had 
not unfortunately broken his nose in playing while they were 
both very young. He was of a very beautiful fair complex- 
ion, and had a face everywhere covered with a healthy red, 
but without expression ; the most beautiful legs in the world ; 
his feet singularly small and delicate. He wavered always 
in walking, and felt his way with his feet; he was always 
afraid of falling, and if the path was not perfectly even and 
straight, he called for assistance. He was a good horseman, 
and looked well when mounted, but he was not a bold rider. 
He was very fond of the table, but always without indecency ; 
he made but one real meal a day, and was content. . . . He 
was ignorant to the last degree, and had a thorough aversion 
for learning; so that, according to his own admission, ever 
since he had been released from the hands of teachers, he had 
never read anything except the article in the Gazette de 
France in which deaths and marriages are recorded. His 
avariciousness, except in certain things, passed all belief. 
He kept an account of his personal expenditure, and knew to 
a sou what his smallest and largest expenses amounted to. 
He spent large sums in building, in furniture, in jewels, and 
in hunting.^ ... As for character, he had none; he was 
without enlightenment or knowledge of any kind, and radi- 
cally incapable of acquiring any; very idle, without imagina- 
tion or productiveness; without taste, without choice, with- 
out discernment; neither seeing the weariness he caused 
others, nor that he was a ball moving at haphazard by the im- 
pulsion of others ; obstinate and little to excess in everything ; 
amazingly credulous and accessible to prejudice, keeping 
himself always in the most pernicious hands, yet incapable of 

^ Monseigneur had a pension of fifty thousand Hvres a month. 
250 



Monseigneur 



seeing his position or of changing it ; absorbed in his fat and 
his ignorance ; so that, without any desire to do ill, he would 
have made a pernicious king." 

The portrait is somewhat exaggerated, for Saint-Simon 
was always at odds with Monseigneur, It is going too far 
to say that Monseigneur was " radically incapable of acquir- 
ing knowledge." He had a good memory, on the testimony 
of Saint-Simon himself : " Arriving at Fontainebleau one 
day, during the movements of the army, Monseigneur set to 
work reciting for amusement a long list of strange names of 
places in the forest. ' Dear me, Monseigneur,' said the Prin- 
cesse de Conti, ' what a good memory you have ! What a pity 
it is loaded with such things only ! ' If he felt the reproach, 
he did not profit by it." 

The Palatine brings out some traits of the dauphin's char- 
acter that Saint-Simon has not touched : " All that was good 
in Monseigneur came from his preceptors; all that was bad 
from himself. He never either loved or hated any one much, 
and yet he was very wicked. His greatest pleasure was to do 
something to vex a person ; and immediately afterward, if he 
could do something very pleasing to the same person, he 
would set about it with great willingness. In every respect 
he was of the strangest temper possible; when one thought 
he was good-humored, he was angry ; and when one supposed 
him to be ill-humored, he was in an amiable mood. No one 
could ever guess him rightly, and I do not believe that his like 
was or ever will be born. It cannot be said that he had much 
wit; but still less was he a fool. Nobody was ever more 
prompt to seize the ridiculous points of anything in himself 
or in others; he told stories agreeably; he was a keen ob- 
server, and dreaded nothing so much as to be one day king, 
not so much from affection for his father, as from dread of 
the trouble of reigning, for he was so extremely idle that he 
neglected all things. . . . He was a very obedient son, and 



251 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

never opposed the king's will in any way. If he had chosen^ 
he might have enjoyed greater credit with his father. He 
would never know anything about state affairs, lest he should 
be obliged to attend the councils and have no more time to 
hunt." 

Saint-Simon gives an example of this indifference of Mon- 
seigneur to affairs of state : " After Ramillies, when every- 
body was waiting for the return of Chamillart to learn the 
truth, Monseigneur went away to dine at Meudon, saying he 
should learn the news soon enough. From this time he 
showed no more interest in what was passing. When news 
was brought that Lille was invested, he turned on his heel be- 
fore the letter announcing it had been read to the end. The 
king called him back to hear the rest. He returned and 
heard it. The reading finished, he went away, without offer- 
ing a word. Entering the apartments of the Princesse de 
Conti, he found there Madame d'Espinoy, who had much 
property in Flanders, and who had wished to take a trip 
there. ' Madame,' said he, smiling, ' how would you go just 
now to get to Lille ? ' And at once made them acquainted 
with the investment. These things really wounded the 
Princesse de Conti." And one might safely add, the king^ 
also. 

When actually with the army, Monseigneur cut no better 
figure. " Meanwhile (1693), the army which had been sent 
into Germany under the command of Monseigneur and of the 
Marechal de Lorges did little or nothing. Marechai de 
Lorges wished to attack Heilbronn, but Monseigneur was 
opposed to it; and, to the great regret of the principal gen- 
erals and of the troops, the attack was not made. Mon- 
seigneur returned early to Versailles." 

Once Monseigneur declared himself with some force. It 
was at the memorable council called by the king at Fontaine- 
bleau to decide whether France should accept or reject the will 

252 



Monseigneur 

of Charles II, which left the crown of Spain to the Due 
d'Anjou. " Monseigneur, drowned as he was in fat and 
sloth, appeared in quite another character from his usual one 
at this council. To the great surprise of the king and his 
assistants, when it was his turn to speak he expressed him- 
self with force in favor of accepting the testament. Then, 
turning toward the king in a respectful but firm manner, he 
said that he took the liberty of asking for his inheritance; 
that the monarchy of Spain belonged to the queen his mother, 
and consequently to him ; that he surrendered it willingly to 
his second son for the tranquillity of Europe ; but that to no 
other would he yield an inch of ground. These words, 
spoken with an inflamed countenance, caused excessive sur- 
prise. The king listened very attentively, and then said to 
Madame de Maintenon, ' And you, Madame, what do you 
think upon all this ? ' She began by affecting modesty ; but 
pressed and even commanded to speak, she expressed herself 
with becoming confusion; briefly sang the praises of Mon- 
seigneur, whom she feared and liked but little, sentiments 
perfectly reciprocated, and at last was for accepting the will." 
With all his faults, Monseigneur was not, as Saint-Simon 
declares he was, without taste. He had been taught to design 
and color by Silvestre, did it fairly well, and took pleasure in 
it. He was a good judge of pictures, and had an excellent 
collection by the best masters in his apartments at Versailles 
and Meudon. He displayed much taste, too, in the objects 
of art with which he had filled his cabinets. But hunting 
was his great passion, a taste he inherited from his father ; for 
the three great hunters of the reign were the Grand Monarch, 
Monseigneur, and the Due de Berry. The chase of the wolf 
was that which Monseigneur loved best. To hunt he rose 
frequently at five o'clock in the morning, he pursued his wolf 
for ten leagues from Versailles, he hunted ten hours at a 
stretch, and returned to the chateau at eleven o'clock in the 

253 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

evening. He was persistent. " Monseigneur," says Dan- 
geau, under date of May 5, 1698, " hunted the wolf and took 
him. He had already hunted this same wolf eight times 
without being able to kill him." In a few years he had 
destroyed every wolf in the environs of Versailles. His 
hunting parties were usually limited to twenty-five noblemen ; 
and the costume which he commanded for the wolf-hunt was 
a bright blue coat, trimmed with gold and silver lace, a red 
waistcoat, blue knee-breeches and top boots, gloves fringed 
with gold lace, and a hat with a white plume. Monseigneur 
met with some accidents. Dangeau records two falls that he 
had from his horse while hunting the wolf, and at Marly, in 
September, 1689, he narrowly escaped injury from a wild 
boar. " Having seen a large wild boar in a pool, Monsei- 
gneur dismounted to fire better. The boar, seeing Mon- 
seigneur, charged at him. Monseigneur fired and wounded 
him, but the boar cjiarged none the less furiously, and as he 
was very near, Monseigneur struck him with the butt of the 
gun on his head, and turned him aside a little. He splashed 
mud on the dress of Monseigneur, but neither wounded him 
nor threw him down. Monseigneur had much presence of 
mind, without which he would have been dangerously 
wounded." ^ 

After the death of his wife, the Dauphine of Bavaria, Mon- 
seigneur was married secretly, about 1695, to his mistress, 
Mile, de Chouin. She was a quiet, unassuming person. Her 
marriage was never declared, and after the death of Mon- 
seigneur she lived modestly in retirement. 

The chief event in the career of the king's eldest son was 
his death, in its effect on the court and on the succession to the 
throne; and the death of Monseigneur is one of Saint- 
Simon's greatest pictures, a canvas crowded with figures and 
details, in which nothing is forgotten, and in which the mo- 

^ Dangeau, II, p. 478. 
254 



Monseigneur 



tives of men are revealed : " On Thursday, the 9th of April, 
171 1, Monseigneur rose and meant to go out wolf-hunting; 
but as he was dressing, such a fit of weakness seized him that 
he fell into his chair. Boudin made him get into bed again, 
but all day his pulse was in an alarming state. The king, 
only half informed by Fagon of what had taken place, be- 
lieved there was nothing the matter, and went out walking at 
Marly after dinner, receiving news from time to time. Mgr. 
le Due de Bourgogne and Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne 
dined at Meudon, and they would not quit Monseigneur for 
one moment. The duchess added to the strict duties of a 
daughter-in-law all that her gracefulness could suggest, and 
gave everything to Monseigneur with her own hand. Her 
heart could not have been troubled by what her reason fore- 
saw; but, nevertheless, her care and attention were extreme, 
without any airs of affectation or acting. The Due de Bour- 
gogne, simple and holy as he was, and full of the idea of his 
duty, exaggerated his attention, and although there was 
strong suspicion of smallpox, neither of them quitted Mon- 
seigneur, except for the king's supper. The next day, Fri- 
day, the loth, in reply to his express demands, the king was 
informed of the extremely dangerous state of Monseigneur. 
He had said on the previous evening that he would go on the 
following morning to Meudon, and remain there during all 
the illness of Monseigneur, whatever its nature might be. 
He was now as good as his word. Immediately after mass 
he set out for Meudon. Before doing so, he forbade his chil- 
dren, and all who had not had the smallpox, to go there, 
which was suggested by a motive of kindness. 

" I will continue to speak of myself with the same truthful- 
ness with which I speak of others, and with as much exact- 
ness as possible. According to the terms on which I was 
with Monseigneur and his intimates, may be imagined the 
impression made upon me by this news. I felt that one way 



255 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

or other, well or ill, the malady of Monseigneur would soon 
terminate. I was quite at my ease at La Ferte. I resolved 
therefore to wait there until I received fresh particulars. I 
despatched a courier to Madame de Saint-Simon, requesting 
her to send me another the next day, and I passed the rest of 
this day in an ebb and flow of feelings, the man and the 
Christian struggling against the man and the courtier, and in 
the midst of a crowd of vague fancies catching glimpses of 
the future, painted in most agreeable colors. The courier 
I expected so impatiently arrived the next day, Sunday, the 
1 2th of April, after dinner. The smallpox had declared 
itself, I learned, and was going on as well as could be wished. 
I believed Monseigneur saved, and wished to remain at my 
own house ; nevertheless I took advice, as I have done all my 
life, and with great regret set out the next morning. At La 
Queue, about six leagues from Versailles, I met a financier 
of the name of La Fontaine, whom I knew well. He was 
coming from Paris and Versailles, and came up to me as I 
changed horses. Monseigneur, he said, was going on admir- 
ably ; and he added details that convinced me that the prince 
was out of all danger. I arrived at Versailles, full of this 
opinion, which was confirmed by Madame de Saint-Simon 
and by everybody I met, so that nobody any longer feared, 
except on account of the treacherous nature of this disease 
in a very fat man of fifty. 

" The king held his council, and worked in the evening with 
his ministers as usual. He saw Monseigneur morning and 
evening, oftentimes in the afternoon, and always remained 
long by the bedside. On the Monday I arrived (at Ver- 
sailles), he had dined early, and had driven from Meudon to 
Marly, where the Duchesse de Bourgogne joined him. He 
saw in passing, on the outskirts of the garden of Versailles, 
his grandchildren, who had come out to meet him; but he 
would not let them come near, and said good day from a dis- 

256 



Monseigneur 

tance. The Duchesse de Bourgogne had had the smallpox, 
but no trace was left. The king liked only his own houses, 
and could not bear to be anywhere else. That is why his 
visits to Meudon were few and short. Madame de Mainte- 
non was still more out of her element there. Although her 
chamber was everywhere a sanctuary where only ladies en- 
titled to the most extreme familiarity entered, she always 
wanted another retreat near at hand entirely inaccessible ex- 
cept to the Duchesse de Bourgogne alone, and that only for a 
few instants at a time. Thus she had St. Cyr for Versailles 
and for Marly, and at Marly also a particular retiring-place, 
and at Fontainebleau she had her town house. Seeing there- 
fore that Monseigneur was getting on well, and that a long 
sojourn at Meudon would be necessary, the upholsterers of 
the king were ordered to furnish for Madame de Maintenon a 
house in the park, which once belonged to the Chancellor le 
Tellier, but which Monseigneur had bought. 

" When I arrived at Versailles, I wrote to M. de Beauvil- 
liers at Meudon, praying him to apprise the king that I had 
returned on account of the illness of Monseigneur, and that I 
would have gone to see him, but that, never having had the 
smallpox, I was included in the prohibition. M. de Beau- 
villiers did as I asked, and sent back word to me that my re- 
turn had been very well timed, and that the king still forbade 
me as well as Madame de Saint-Simon to go to Meudon. 
This fresh prohibition did not distress me in the least. I was 
informed of all that was passing there, and that satisfied me. 

" There were yet contrasts at Meudon worth noticing. 
Mile, de Chouin never appeared while the king was with 
Monseigneur, but kept close in her apartment. When the 
coast was clear, she came out, and took up her position by the 
sick man's bedside. All sorts of compliments passed between 
her and Madame de Maintenon, and yet they never met. The 
king asked Madame de Maintenon if she had seen Mile, de 

257 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

Chouin, and upon learning that she had not, was but ill 
pleased. Therefore Madame de Maintenon sent excuses and 
apologies to Mile, de Chouin, and said she hoped to see her 
soon, strange compliments from one chamber to another 
under the same roof. They never saw each other. It should 
be observed that Pere Tellier, the king's confessor, was also 
incognito at Meudon, and dwelt in a retired room from which 
he issued to see the king, but never approached the apart- 
ments of Monseigneur. 

" Versailles presented another scene. Mgr. le Due de 
Bourgogne and Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne held their 
court openly there, and this court resembled the first gleams 
of the dawn. All the court assembled there ; all Paris also ; 
and as discretion and precaution were never French virtues, 
all Meudon came as well. People were believed on their 
word when they declared that they had not entered the apart- 
ments of Monseigneur that day, and consequently could not 
bring the infection. When the Due and Duchesse de Bour- 
gogne rose, when they went to bed, when they dined and 
supped with the ladies, all public conversations, all assemblies, 
were opportunities of paying court to them. The apartments 
could not contain the crowd. The characteristic features of 
the scene were many. Couriers arrived every quarter of an 
hour, and reminded people of the illness of Monseigneur ; he 
was going on as well as could be expected; confidence and 
hope were easily felt; but there was an extreme desire to 
please at the new court. The Due and Duchesse de Bour- 
gogne exhibited majesty and gravity, mixed with gaiety; 
obligingly received all, continually spoke to every one. The 
crowd wore an air of complaisance; reciprocal satisfaction 
showed in every face. The Due and Duchesse de Berry were 
treated almost as nobody. Thus five days fled away in in- 
creasing thought of future events, in preparation to be ready 
for whatever might happen. 

258 



Monseigneur 

" On Tuesday, the 14th of April, I went to see the chan- 
cellor, and asked for information upon the state of Mon- 
seigneur. He assured me it was good, and repeated to me 
the words Fagon had spoken to him, ' that things were going 
on according to their wishes, and beyond their hopes.' The 
chancellor appeared to me very confident, and I had faith in 
him, so much the more because he was on an extremely good 
footing with Monseigneur. Indeed, Monseigneur had so 
much recovered that the fishwomen came in a body on the 
same day to congratulate him, as they had done after his at- 
tack of indigestion. They threw themselves at the foot of 
his bed, which they kissed several times, and in their joy said 
they would go back to Paris and have a Te Deum sung. But 
Monseigneur, who was not insensible to these marks of popu- 
lar affection, told them it was not yet time, thanked them, 
and gave them a dinner and some money. As I was return- 
ing to my apartments, I saw the Duchesse d' Orleans walking 
on the terrace. She called to me; but I pretended not to 
notice her, because La Montauban was with her, and has- 
tened to my cabinet. Almost immediately afterward Mme. 
la Duchesse d' Orleans joined me there. We were bursting 
to speak to each other alone, upon a point on which our 
thoughts were alike. She had left Meudon not an hour be- 
fore, and she had the same tale to tell as the chancellor. 
Everybody was at ease there, she said ; and then she extolled 
the care and capacities of the doctors, exaggerating their 
success; and, to speak frankly and to our shame, she and I 
lamented together to see Monseigneur, in spite of his age and 
his fat, escape from so dangerous an illness. She reflected 
seriously but wittily that, after an illness of this sort, apo- 
plexy was not to be looked for ; that an attack of indigestion 
was equally unlikely to arise, considering the care Monsei- 
gneur had taken not to overgorge himself since his recent dan- 
ger; and we concluded more than dolefully that henceforth 

259 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

we must make up our minds that Monseigneur would live and 
reign for a long time. In a word, we let ourselves loose in 
this rare conversation, although not without an occasional 
scruple of conscience which disturbed it. Madame de Saint- 
Simon very devoutly tried her best to put a drag upon our 
tongues, but the drag broke, so to speak, and we continued 
our free discourse, humanly speaking very reasonable on our 
parts, but which we felt was not according to religion. 
Thus two hours passed, seemingly very short. Madame 
d'Orleans went away, and I repaired with Madame de Saint- 
Simon to receive a numerous company. 

" But while all was tranquillity at Versailles, everything 
had changed its aspect at the Chateau of Meudon. The king 
had seen Monseigneur several times during the day; but in 
his after-dinner visit he was so much struck with the ex- 
traordinary swelling of the face and of the head that he 
shortened his stay, and on leaving the chateau, shed tears. 
He was reassured as much as possible, and after the council 
he took a walk in the garden. Nevertheless Monseigneur 
had already mistaken Mme. la Princesse de Conti for some 
one else, and Boudin, the doctor, was alarmed. Monseigneur 
himself had been so from the first, and admitted that for a 
long time before being attacked, he had been very unwell, 
and so much so on Good Friday that he had been unable to 
read his prayer-book in chapel. Toward four o'clock he 
grew worse, so much so that Boudin proposed to Fagon to 
call in other doctors, more familiar with the disease than they 
were. But Fagon flew into a rage at this, and would call in 
nobody. He declared that it would be better to act for them- 
selves, and keep Monseigneur's state secret, although it was 
hourly growing worse, and toward seven o'clock was per- 
ceived by several valets and courtiers. But nobody dared to 
open his mouth before Fagon, and the king was actually al- 
lowed to go to supper and to finish it without interruption, 

260 



Monseigneur 



believing on the faith of Fagon that Monseigneur was going 
on well. While the king supped tranquilly, all those who 
were in the sick-chamber began to lose their wits. Fagon 
and the others poured down physic on physic, without leaving 
time for any to work. The cure, who was accustomed to go 
and learn the news every evening, found, against all custom, 
the doors thrown wide open, and the valets in confusion. He 
entered the chamber, and perceiving what was the matter, ran 
to the bedside, took the hand of Monseigneur, spoke to him of 
God, and seeing him full of consciousness, but scarcely able 
to speak, drew from him a sort of confession, of which no- 
body had hitherto thought, and suggested some acts of con- 
trition. The poor prince repeated distinctly several words 
suggested to him, and confusedly answered others, struck his 
breast, squeezed the cure's hand, appeared penetrated with 
the best sentiments, and received with a contrite and willing 
air the absolution of the cure. The king, as he rose from the 
supper-table, well-nigh fell backward, when Fagon, coming 
forward, cried in great trouble that all was lost. It may be 
imagined what terror seized all the company at this abrupt 
passage from perfect security to hopeless despair. The king, 
scarcely master of himself, at once began to go toward the 
apartment of Monseigneur, and repelled very stiffly the indis- 
creet eagerness of some courtiers who wished to prevent him, 
saying that he would see his son again, and be quite certain 
that nothing could be done. As he was about to enter the 
chamber, Mme. la Princesse de Coiiti presented herself before 
him, and prevented him from going in. She pushed him 
back with her hands, and said that henceforth he had only to 
think of himself. Then the king, nearly fainting from a 
shock so complete and so sudden, fell upon a sofa that stood 
near. He asked unceasingly for news from all who passed, 
but scarcely anybody dared to reply to him. He had sent for 
Pere Tellier, who went into Monseigneur's room ; but it was 

261 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

no longer time. It is true that the Jesuit, perhaps to console 
the king, said he gave the prince a well-founded absolution. 
Madame de Maintenon hastened after the king, and sitting 
down beside him on the same sofa, tried to cry. She en- 
deavored to lead away the king to the carriage already wait- 
ing for him in the courtyard, but he would not go, and sat 
thus outside the door until Monseigneur had expired. The 
agony, without consciousness, of Monseigneur lasted more 
than an hour after the king had come into the cabinet. Mme. 
la Duchesse and Mme. la Princesse de Conti divided their 
cares between the dying man and the king, to whom they con- 
stantly came back; while the doctors confounded, the valets 
bewildered, the courtiers hurrying and murmuring, hustled 
against one another, and moved unceasingly to and fro, back- 
ward and forward, in the same narrow space. At last the 
fatal moment arrived. Fagon came out, and allowed as 
much to be understood. The king, much afflicted, and very 
grieved that Monseigneur's confession had been so tardily 
made, abused Fagon a little, and went away, led by Madame 
de Maintenon, Mme. la Duchesse, and the Princesse de Conti. 
He was somewhat struck by finding the coach of Monsei- 
gneur outside, and made a sign that he would have another 
coach, for that one made him suffer, and left the chateau. 
He was not, however, so much occupied with his grief that he 
could not call Pontchartrain to arrange the hour of the coun- 
cil for the next day. I will not comment on this coolness, and 
shall merely say it surprised extremely all present, and that if 
Pontchartrain had not said the council could be put off, no 
interruption to business would have taken place. The king 
got into his coach with difficulty, supported on both sides. 
Madame de Maintenon seated herself beside him. A crowd 
of officers of Monseigneur lined both sides of the court on 
their knees, as he passed out, crying to him with strange 
bowlings to have compassion on them, for they had lost all, 

262 



Monseigneur 



and must die of hunger. Horror reigned at Meudon. As 
soon as the king had left, all the courtiers left also, crowding 
into the first carriages that came. In an instant Meudon was 
empty. Mile, de Chouin remained alone in her apartment, 
and unaware of what had taken place. She learned it only by 
the cry raised. Nobody thought of telling her. At last some 
friends went up to her, hurried her into a hired coach, and 
took her to Paris. The dispersion was general. One or two 
valets, at the most, remained near the body. La Vrilliere, 
to his praise be it said, was the only courtier who, not having 
abandoned Monseigneur during life, did not abandon him 
after his death. He had some difficulty to find somebody to 
go in search of Capuchins to pray over the corpse. The de- 
composition became so rapid and so great that the opening of 
the windows was not enough. The Capuchins, La Vrilliere, 
and the valets were compelled to pass the night outside. 

" While Meudon was filled with horror, all was tranquil at 
Versailles, without the least suspicion. We had supped. 
The company some time after had retired, and I was talking 
with Madame de Saint-Simon, who had nearly finished un- 
dressing herself to go to bed, when a servant of Mme. la 
Duchesse de Berry, whg had formerly belonged to us, entered, 
all terrified. He said that there must be some bad news from 
Meudon, since M. le Due de Bourgogne had just whispered in 
the ear of M. le Due de Berry, whose eyes had at once become 
red, that he left the table, and that all the company shortly 
after him rose with precipitation. So sudden a change ren- 
dered my surprise extreme. I ran in hot haste to the apart- 
ments of Mme. la Duchesse de Berry. Nobody was there. 
Everybody had gone to Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, I 
followed on with all speed. I found all Versailles assembled 
on arriving, all the ladies hastily dressed, the majority hav- 
ing been on the point of going to bed, all doors open, and all 
in trouble. I learned that Monseigneur had received the 

263 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

extreme unction, that he was without consciousness and be- 
yond hope, and that the king had sent word to Madame de 
Bourgogne that he was going to Marly, and that she was to 
meet him as he passed through the avenue between the royal 
stables. 

" The spectacle before me attracted all the attention I could 
bestow. M. le Due de Bourgogne, M. le Due de Berry, the 
Duchesse de Bourgogne, and the Duchesse de Berry were in 
the little cabinet behind the bedchamber of the Duchesse de 
Bourgogne. The bed-toilet was as usual in the chamber, 
which was filled with all the court in confusion. The 
Duchesse de Bourgogne came and went from the cabinet to 
the chamber, waiting for the moment when she was to meet 
the king, and her demeanor, always distinguished by the same 
graces, was one of trouble and compassion, which the trouble 
and compassion of others induced them to take for grief. 
Now and then, in passing, she said a few rare words. All 
present were in truth expressive personages. Whoever had 
eyes, without any knowledge of the court, could see the inter- 
ests of all interested painted on their faces, and the indiffer- 
ence of the indifferent; these tranquil, the former penetrated 
with grief, or gravely attentive to themselves to hide their 
emancipation and their joy. For my part, my first care was 
to inform myself thoroughly of the state of affairs, fearing 
lest there might be too much alarm for too trifling a cause; 
then, recovering myself, I reflected upon the misery common 
to all men, and that I myself should find myself some day at 
the gates of death. Joy, nevertheless, found its way through 
the momentary reflections of religion and humanity by which 
I tried to master myself. My own private deliverance seemed 
so great and so unhoped for that it appeared to me that the 
state must gain everything by such a loss; and with these 
thoughts I felt, in spite of myself, a lingering fear lest the 
sick man should recover, and was extremely ashamed of it. 

264 



Monseigneur 



Wrapped up thus in myself, I did not fail, however, to cast 
clandestine looks upon each face, to see what was passing 
there. I saw Mme. la Duchesse d' Orleans arrive, but her 
countenance, majestic and constrained, said nothing. She 
went into the little cabinet, from which she presently issued 
with the Due d'Orleans, whose activity and turbulent air 
marked his emotion at the spectacle more than any other 
sentiment. They went away, and I notice this expressly on 
account of what happened afterward in my presence. Soon 
I caught a distant glimpse of the Due de Bourgogne, who 
seemed much moved and troubled, but the glance with which 
I probed him rapidly revealed nothing tender, and told merely 
of a mind profoundly occupied with the bearings of what had 
taken place. Valets and femmes de chambre were already 
indiscreetly crying out, and their grief showed well that they 
were about to lose something. A little after midnight we had 
news of the king, and immediately after the Duchesse de 
Bourgogne came out of the little cabinet with the duke, who 
seemed more touched than when I first saw him. The duchess 
took her scarf and her coif from the toilet, standing with a 
deliberate air, her eyes scarcely wet, a fact betrayed by in- 
quisitive glances cast rapidly to the right and left, and, fol- 
lowed only by her ladies, she went to her coach by the grand 
staircase. 

" I took this opportunity to go to the apartments of the 
Duchesse d'Orleans, where I found many people. Their 
presence made me very impatient, and the duchess, who was 
equally impatient, took a light and went into her cabinet. I 
whispered in the ear of the Duchesse de Villeroi, who thought 
as I thought of this event. She nudged me, and said in a 
very low voice that I must contain myself. I was smothered 
with silence, amid the complaints and the naive surprises 
of these ladies. At last the Due d'Orleans appeared at the 
door of his cabinet, and beckoned me to come to him. I fol- 

265 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

lowed him into the cabinet, where we were alone. What was 
my surprise, remembering the terms on which he was with 
Monseigneur, to see tears streaming from his eyes. ' Mon- 
sieur! ' I exclaimed, rising. He understood me at once, and 
answered in a broken voice, really crying : * You are right to 
be surprised. I am surprised myself. But such a spectacle 
touches. He was a man with whom I passed much of my 
life, and who treated me well when he was uninfluenced. I 
feel very well that my grief won't last long; in a few days I 
shall discover motives of joy; but at present, blood, relation- 
ship, humanity, all work, and my entrails are moved.' I 
praised his sentiments, but repeated my surprise. He rose, 
thrust his head into a corner, and, with his nose there, wept 
bitterly and sobbed, which if I had not seen, I could not have 
believed. After a little silence, I exhorted him to calm him- 
self. I represented to him that, everybody knowing on what 
terms he had been with Monseigneur, he would be laughed 
at, as playing a part, if his eyes showed that he had been 
weeping. He did what he could to remove the marks of his 
tears, and then we went back into the other room. 

" The interview of the Duchesse de Bourgogne with the 
king had not been long. She met him in the avenue between 
the royal stables, got down, and went to the door of the car- 
riage. Madame de Maintenon cried out, ' Where are you 
going? We bear the plague about with us.' I do not know 
what the king said or did. The Duchesse de Bourgogne re- 
turned to her carriage, and came back to the chateau, bring- 
ing in reality the first news of the actual death of Monsei- 
gneur. At Marly everybody felt hopeful, and the king's 
return there was not dreamed of. Nothing was ready, no 
keys of the apartments, no fires, scarcely any candles. The 
king was more than an hour thus with Madame de Main- 
tenon and other ladies in one of the antechambers. The king 
retired into a corner, seated between Madame de Maintenon 

266 



Monseigneur 



and two other ladies, and wept at long intervals. At last the 
chamber of Madame de Maintenon was ready. The king 
-entered, remained there an hour, and then went to bed in 
his apartment at nearly four o'clock in the morning. 

" At the return of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, acting upon 
the advice of M. de Beauvilliers, all the company had gone 
into the grand salon. ^ The Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne 
and the Due and Duchesse de Berry were there, seated on one 
sofa ; all the rest of the company were scattered about in con- 
fusion, seated or standing, some of the ladies being on the 
floor near the sofa. There could be no doubt of what had 
happened; it was plainly written on every face. Monsei- 
gneur was no more. It was known ; it was spoken of ; con- 
straint with respect to him no longer existed. Amid the sur- 
prise, the confusion, and the movements that prevailed, the 
sentiments of all were painted to the life in looks and gestures. 
In the adjoining apartments were heard the constrained 
groans and sighs of the valets, grieving for the master they 
had lost. Further on began the crowd of courtiers of all 
kinds. The greater number, that is to say the fools, pumped 
up sighs as well as they could, and with wandering but dry 
eyes sang the praises of Monseigneur, insisting especially on 
his goodness. They pitied the king for the loss of so good a 
son. The keener began already to be uneasy about the health 
of the king, and admired themselves for preserving so much 
judgment amid so much trouble, which could be perceived 
by the frequency of their repetitions. Others, really afflicted, 
the discomfited cabal, wept bitterly, and kept themselves 
under with an effort as easy to notice as sobs. The most 
strong-minded or the wisest, with eyes fixed on the ground, 
in corners, meditated on the consequences of such an event, 
and especially on their own interests. Few words passed in 
conversation; here and there an exclamation wrung from 

^ The salon of Peace. 
267 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

grief was answered by some neighboring grief, a word every 
quarter of an hour, somber and haggard eyes, movements 
quite involuntary of the hands, immobihty of all other parts 
of the body. Those who already looked upon the event as 
favorable in vain exaggerated their gravity, so as to make it 
resemble chagrin and severity; the veil over their faces was 
transparent and hid not a single feature. They remained as 
motionless as those who grieved most, fearing opinion, curios- 
ity, their own satisfaction, their every movement; but their 
eyes made up for their immobility. Indeed, they could not 
refrain from repeatedly changing their attitudes, like people 
ill at ease, sitting or standing, from avoiding each other too 
carefully, even from allowing their eyes to meet, nor repress a 
manifest air of liberty, nor conceal their increased liveliness, 
nor put out a sort of brilliancy which distinguished them in 
spite of themselves. It must be admitted that for him who 
is well acquainted with the privacies of a court the first sight 
of rare events of this nature, interesting in so many different 
respects, is extremely satisfactory. Every countenance re- 
veals the cares, the intrigues, the labors employed in the ad- 
vancement of fortunes, in the overthrow of rivals; the rela- 
tions, the coldness, the hatreds, the evil offices done, the base- 
ness of all, hope, despair, rage, satisfaction, express them- 
selves in the features. See how all eyes wander to and fro, 
examining what passes around, how some are astonished to 
find others more mean, or less mean, than was expected. 
Thus this spectacle produced a pleasure which, hollow as it 
may be, is one of the greatest a court can bestow. 

" The Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne and the Due and 
Duchesse de Berry were more exposed to view than any 
others. The Due de Bourgogne wept with tenderness, sin- 
cerity, gentleness, the tears of nature, religion, and patience. 
The Due de Berry also sincerely shed abundance of tears, but 
bloody tears so to speak, so great appeared their bitterness, 

268 



Monseigneur 

and he uttered not only sobs, but cries, nay, even yells. He 
was silent sometimes, but from suffocation, and then would 
burst out again with such a noise, such a trumpet sound of 
despair, that the majority present burst out also at these dolo- 
rous repetitions, either impelled by affliction or decorum. 
Mme. la Duchesse de Berry was beside herself; there was 
seen written, as it were, a sort of furious grief, based on 
interest, not affection; now and then came dry lulls, deep 
and sullen, then a torrent of tears. Often aroused by the 
cries of her husband, prompt to assist him, to support him, 
to embrace him, to give him her smelling-bottle, her care for 
him was evident. As for the Duchesse de Bourgogne, she 
consoled her husband with less trouble than she had to appear 
herself in want of consolation. Without attempting to play 
a part, it was evident that she did her best to acquit herself of 
a pressing duty of decorum ; but she found extreme difficulty 
in keeping up appearances. When her brother-in-law 
howled, she blew her nose. She had brought some tears 
along with her, and kept them with care, and these, combined 
with the art of the handkerchief, enabled her to redden her 
eyes and make them swell, and smudge her face; but her 
glances often wandered on the sly to the countenances of all 
present. Madame ^ arrived, in full dress she knew not why, 
and howling she knew not why, inundated everybody with her 
tears in embracing them, making the chateau echo vdth re- 
newed cries, and furnished the odd spectacle of a princess 
putting on her robes of ceremony in the dead of night to come 
and cry among a crowd of women with but little on except 
their night-dresses, almost as masqueraders. 

" In the gallery, several ladies, Mme. la Duchesse d'Or- 

leans, Madame de Castries, and Madame de Saint-Simon 

among the rest, finding no one close by, drew near one another 

by the side of a tent-bedstead, and began to open their hearts 

^ The dowager Duchesse d'Orleans, widow of Monsieur. 

269 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

to one another, which they did with the more freedom, inas- 
much as they had but one sentiment in common upon what 
had occurred. In the gallery and its salons there were always 
during the night several beds, in which, for security's sake,. 
certain Swiss guards slept. These beds had been put in their 
usual places this evening before the bad news came from 
Meudon. In the midst of the conversation of the ladies, 
Madame de Castries touched the bed, felt something move, 
and was much terrified. A moment after they saw a sturdy 
arm, nearly naked, raise the curtains on a sudden, and thu& 
show them a great brawny Swiss under the sheets, half 
awake and wholly amazed. The fellow was a long time in 
making out his position, fixing his eyes upon every face, one 
after another; but at last, not judging it advisable to get up 
in the midst of such a grand company, he reburied himself in 
his bed and closed the curtains. Apparently the guard had. 
gone to bed before anything had transpired, and had slept so 
soundly ever since that he had not been aroused till then. 
The saddest sights have often the most ridiculous contrasts.. 
This caused some of the ladies to laugh, and made Madame 
d' Orleans fear lest the conversation might have been over- 
heard ; but, after reflection, the sleep and the stupidity of the 
sleeper reassured her. The turmoil in the grand salon and 
the gallery lasted about an hour, at the end of which M. de 
Beauvilliers thought it was high time to deliver the princes of 
their company. The apartments were cleared. 

" The first night at Versailles after the death of Monsei- 
gneur was sleepless. The Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne 
heard mass early next morning. The duchess wished to be 
at Marly at the king's waking. I went to see them. Few 
persons were present on account of the hour. Their eyes 
were wonderfully dry, but carefully managed. It was easy 
to see they were more occupied with their new position than 
with the death of Monseigneur. At Marly, the morning after 

270 



Monseigneur 



the death of Monseigneur, the king rose late, called M. de 
Beauvilliers into his cabinet, shed some more tears, and then 
said that from that time Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne and Mme. 
la Duchesse de Bourgogne were to enjoy the honors, the rank, 
and the names of Dauphin and Dauphine." ^ 

In the night of Wednesday, the 15th of April, some twenty- 
four hours after his death, the remains of Monseigneur were 
taken from Meudon to St. Denis, and placed in the royal 
vaults. There was little ceremony, and aside from the per- 
sons on duty, none of the courtiers attended. On the i8th of 
the following June, 1 7 1 1 , the solemn obsequies took place at 
St. Denis, and on July 3d at Notre Dame de Paris. 

* Saint-Simon, II, pp. 172-191. 



271 



Ill 

THE DUC AND DUCHESSE DE BOURGOGNE 

WITH the exception of Monseigneur, the 
children of Louis XIV and Marie Therese 
died young. At court the three sons of 
Monseigneur ranked as Enfants de France. 
" One must have guessed that the children belonged to him," 
says the Palatine, " for he lived like a stranger among them. 
He never called them his sons, but the Due de Bourgogne, the 
Due d'Anjou, the Due de Berry; and they, in turn, always 
called him Monseigneur." In 1690 they lost their mother, 
the Dauphine of Bavaria. The Due de Bourgogne was then 
eight years old, the Due d'Anjou seven, and the Due de Berry 
four. Up to the age of seven they were under the control of 
their governess, the Marechale de la Mothe ; then they passed 
into the hands of governors, tutors, and valets. They saw 
their father, as a rule, on state occasions. 

LOUIS OF FRANCE, DUC DE BOURGOGNE 

In 1682 the Dauphine of Bavaria occupied apartments at the 
end of the south wing of the chateau, and there, on the 6th of 
August of that year, the Due de Bourgogne was born. The 
Mercure gives in detail the anxiety and the joy which at- 
tended the coming of this first grandson of the King of 
France. 

272 



The Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne 

" On Tuesday, the 4th of August, Mme. la Dauphine began 
to feel some pain. It was late, and she preferred to suffer 
without complaining than to force all the court to pass the 
night without sleep. But at one o'clock in the morning her 
pains increased, and the rumor was spread abroad. Mon- 
seigneur remained in her chamber throughout the night. 
All Versailles learned the news. Judge of the agitation in a 
court as large as that of France. All was in motion. The 
princes and princesses of the blood, who had not yet gone to 
bed, came at once to the apartments of Mme. la Dauphine; 
the others were awakened, and came shortly after. Couriers 
were despatched to summon those who had gone to Paris. 
Relays of horses were sent out on the road. It was as light 
as day in the chateau, owing to the quantity of torches car- 
ried for those who were going and coming. All the court 
was aroused by the noise in the antechambers and in the 
gallery. 

" As it appeared that Mme. la Dauphine would not be de- 
livered immediately, they did not wish to wake the king, but 
at five in the morning it was thought proper to inform him of 
the state of the princess. He rose at once, but in place of 
hastening to her apartments and appearing alarmed, he dis- 
played his customary prudence and moderation. He thought 
that, at a time when prayers were necessary to call down the 
grace of Heaven, the first thing that ought to be done was to 
hear mass. He had it said, and about six in the morning he 
went to see in what state affairs were. The crowd increased 
at every moment, and those for whom the couriers had been 
sent arrived constantly. One could have said that all the 
court, and all the nobility of France, surrounded the apart- 
ment of Mme. la Dauphine; it was impossible to approach; 
the rest of the chateau appeared deserted. At nine o'clock 
the king, seeing that the pains of Mme. la Dauphine were very 
slight, left her chamber to go to the council. The majority 

273 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

of the princes and princesses had been up all night, and al- 
though a large number of people of rank retired, others came 
constantly, so that the crush continued, and the crowd seemed 
even larger than before. ... At the end of the afternoon 
Mme. la Dauphine experienced violent pains. The king was 
informed, and came at once. The greater part of the am- 
bassadors, envoys, and foreign princes, having learned of 
what was taking place, had come to Versailles to learn the 
news of the birth the moment it should be announced, and in- 
form their sovereigns the same hour. The road was more 
and more crowded with those who were going and coming 
between Paris and Versailles. There were couriers and car- 
riages everywhere. The same thing was seen for some time 
after the birth of Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne, since all 
people of quality came to testify their joy to Their Majesties. 
. . . The queen and the princesses of the blood tried con- 
stantly to render to Mme. la Dauphine all the services that 
women can give on such an occasion. The king and Mon- 
seigneur forgot nothing on their side. As her pains did not 
cease, they passed the night there without undressing. No- 
thing could be more tender than the king's attitude toward 
the princess. . . . While Mme. la Dauphine suffered most, 
she said to the king that, after having known so good a fa- 
ther and so good a husband, it would be hard for her to leave 
them. The king encouraged her, and told her he would be 
content to have a girl, provided she might suffer less and be 
soon delivered. . . . On Thursday morning the king went to 
mass, and although he had been up all night, he did not omit 
to hold his council as usual. He had spent two days and al- 
most two nights between his prayers, his duties of state, and 
his tenderness for Mme. la Dauphine. . . . 

" Although the chamber was filled with the princes and 
princesses of the blood, and a large number of other people 
whose presence was necessary for the service, the king, judg- 

274 



The Due and Duehesse de Bourgogne 

ing that the moment of the delivery was near, and with that 
presence of mind which never fails him, saw at a glance, in 
spite of the number of persons crowded in the chamber, that 
M. le Prince de Conti was not there. He gave orders that he 
should be summoned immediately. There were then in the 
chamber the king, the queen, Mgr. le Dauphin, Monsieur, 
Madame, Mile. d'Orleans, and all the princes and princesses 
of the blood whose rank gave them the right to be present. 
There were also many ladies of the palace whose posts gave 
them the privilege, or who were in the service of Mme. la 
Dauphine. Although no one moved, each one appeared rest- 
less. A low murmur was heard in all parts of the chamber. 
Anxiety mingled with joy reigned. Meanwhile the severe 
pains of the delivery redoubled. People became alarmed. 
M. Clement, who had come to deliver the princess, had need 
to be more alarmed than they, for her and for himself. The 
presence of the king might have intimidated him, and the 
fear of doing his work badly might have prevented him from 
accomplishing it ; but none of these things made any impres- 
sion on him. He forgot both the place where he was, and the 
rank of the person whom he attended, and he acquitted him- 
self so well that the king said afterward that he noticed that 
Clement was cool. While all were attentive, Mme. la Dau- 
phine was delivered at quarter past ten in the evening. 

" The king, who feared that, if Mme. la Dauphine were de- 
livered of a prince and informed of it at once, the excess of 
her joy would be dangerous for her, had arranged with 
Clement some words by which His Majesty was to be in- 
formed of the sex of the child. Clement pronounced them, 
but the tone of his voice and his eyes betrayed him. Mon- 
sieur comprehended the ruse. He said at once what he had 
discovered. His Majesty immediately announced the news, 
and named the prince Due de Bourgogne. 

" The excitement which followed can hardly be described. 

275 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

Those who were in the chamber neither knew what they said 
nor what they did, and under such circumstances they could 
not relate what others did. Two doors were opened at the 
same time to announce the grand news. The king opened 
one, and said to the princesses, duchesses, and ladies of the 
palace, ' It is a prince ! ' At the same time a lady of honor in- 
formed the noblemen who were in the other antechamber. 
The shouts which followed, and the commotion, were tre- 
mendous. Some broke through the crowd to spread the news 
on every side; others, without knowing exactly where they 
were or what they did, were transported. There were tears 
of joy, animosities were forgotten, people embraced those 
nearest them, without distinction of rank. Many valets 
found themselves, without knowing how they got there, in 
the antechamber with the princes and the ladies of the pal- 
ace. . . . Nothing could equal the zeal and activity of M. 
d'Ormoy. He traversed the antechambers, he ran up and 
down the staircases, shouting everywhere that it was a prince, 
and he shouted so much that for some time afterward he 
could hardly speak. . . . Finally, after so much anxiety, 
fatigue, alarm, and joy, it was time to leave Mme. la Dau- 
phine in repose. On leaving her chamber, the king had to 
encounter transports of joy to which a prince less affable than 
the king could not easily have adjusted himself. He had to 
pass through the midst of all those who formed the court of 
France, great lords and others, and the joy of the crowd was 
such that they all tried to throw themselves at his feet and 
embrace his knees. Those who at another time would not 
have dared to approach so near, now, animated by an excess 
of joy, threw themselves with the rest. Whatever incon- 
venience the king may have suffered, he bore all with an air 
so affable that the boldness of those who might have been 
timid was increased. In fact, the king was carried from the 
apartments of Mme. la Dauphine to the antechamber of the 
queen, where he supped. 

276 



The Due and Duehesse de Bourgogne 

" A guard of the king, sleeping on his straw mattress, was 
aroused by the tumult, and having learned the cause, he took 
his mattress on his back and ran at once to the first courtyard, 
where he set the mattress on fire. Other soldiers followed 
his example, bringing in their zeal whatever they could lay 
hands on, benches and tables even. . . . The king, who saw 
in passing this agreeable disorder, said, 'Let them do what 
they like, provided they do not burn us.' " 

In spite of the mediocrity of his parents, the Due de Bour- 
gogne had intellect; perhaps he got that from his grand- 
father. At any rate, he had it, but for a time it seemed that 
nothing would come of it. 

In his youth he was " impetuous with frenzy ; passionately 
fond of all kinds of voluptuousness, of women, of wine, good 
living, hunting, music, gambling, in which last he could not 
endure to be beaten ; in fine, abandoned to every passion, and 
transported by every pleasure. He looked down upon all 
men as from the sky, as atoms with whom he had nothing in 
common; even his brothers scarcely appeared connecting- 
links between himself and human nature, although all three 
had been educated together in perfect equality." ^ Up to the 
age of fifteen, when he was married to Marie Adelaide of 
Savoy, he gave every indication of becoming the worst of the 
Bourbons. 

His intelligence, and the teaching of Fenelon, saved him. 
" God, who is master of all hearts," says Saint-Simon, 
" worked a miracle in this prince between his eighteenth and 
twentieth years. From the abyss he came out affable, gentle, 
moderate, penitent, and humble, austere even, more than har- 
monized with his position." In fact the pendulum swung so 
far the other way that, for a time, he was sanctimonious and 
absurd. " On one occasion he refused to be present at a ball 
on Twelfth-Night, and in various ways made himself ridic- 
ulous at court." But he righted himself at last, and when, 
* Saint-Simon, II, p. 218. 

^77 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

in 171 1, he became Dauphin of France, he had run the gantlet 
at the two extremes of profligacy and piety, he had found his 
poise, he had struck his gait, and he was working in earnest 
to fit himself for kingship. " He applied himself to the 
studies which were necessary in order to instruct himself in 
public affairs. . . . He tried to fathom men, to draw from 
them the instruction and light he could hope for. . . . He 
was without verbiage, compliments, prefaces, or other hin- 
drances ; he went straight to the point, and allowed you to go 
also. . . . He became on a sudden easy and frank, showing 
himself in public on all occasions, conversing right and left 
in a gay, agreeable, and dignified manner, presiding, in fact, 
over the salon of Marly. In a short time hunting became a 
less usual topic of conversation; history and even science 
were touched upon lightly, in a manner that charmed while it 
instructed. The dauphin spoke with an eloquent freedom 
that opened all eyes and hearts. It is astonishing with what 
rapidity he gained universal esteem and admiration. The 
public joy could not keep silent. People asked each other if 
this was really the same man they had known as Due de Bour- 
gogne. . . . The king wished to give him 50,000 livres a 
month, Monseigneur having had that sum. He would not 
accept them. He had 6000 livres a month; he was satisfied 
with double that amount, and would not receive more. This 
disinterestedness much pleased the public. He wished for 
nothing special on his account, and persisted in remaining in 
nearly everything as he was during the life of Monseigneur. 
These auguries of a prudent reign suggested the brightest of 
hopes." 

It was the Due de Bourgogne who dared to say openly in 
the salon of Marly, " The king is made for his subjects, not 
the subjects for the king." Fate never gave him an oppor- 
tunity to put those words in practice, and with him perished 
the best hope for the future of the House of Bourbon. 

278 



The Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne 

THE DUCHESSE DE BOURGOGNE 

Of all the women of the court the Duchesse de Bourgogne 
seems to have had the most charming disposition and the most 
lovable nature. She stands in a place apart. In 1696 the 
King of France asked the Duke of Savoy for the hand of his 
daughter, Marie Adelaide, on behalf of Louis, Due de Bour- 
gogne. The Princess of Savoy was then a child of eleven 
years; the Due de Bourgogne was a boy of fourteen. By 
the terms of the compact made with the Duke of Savoy, the 
princess was to be married when she had completed her 
twelfth year. Marriages of children of rank were not un- 
common, but for several years after such marriages the con- 
tracting parties were not allowed to live together. Louis 
XIV went in state to Montargis to meet the future grand- 
daughter-in-law, who for the next fifteen years was to play 
so important a part in his life. He met her on Sunday, the 
4th of November, and the letter he wrote to Madame de 
Maintenon on that day is interesting, not only because the 
king himself gives his first impressions, but also because the 
person in question was a child of eleven years. 

" I arrived here (Montargis) before five o'clock," says the 
king. " The princess did not come till nearly six. I went to 
receive her at her carriage. She let me speak first, and after- 
ward she replied extremely well, but with a little embarrass- 
ment that would have pleased you. I led her to her room 
through the crowd, letting her be seen from time to time by 
making the torches come nearer to her face. She bore that 
march and the lights with grace and modesty. At last we 
reached her room, where there was a crowd and heat enough 
to kill us. I showed her now and then to those who ap- 
proached us, and considered her in every way in order to write 
you what I think of her. She has the best grace and the 
prettiest figure I have ever seen. Dressed for a painter, and 

279 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

hair the same ; eyes very bright and very beautiful, the lashes 
black and admirable; complexion very even, white and red, 
all that one could wish; the finest blond hair that was ever 
seen, and in great quantity. She is thin, but that belongs to^ 
her years. Her mouth is rosy ; the lips full ; the teeth white,, 
long, and ill placed; her hands well shaped, but of the color 
of her age. She speaks little, as far as I have seen, and is not 
embarrassed when looked at, like a person who has seen the 
world. She curtsies badly, with rather an Italian air; she 
has also something of an Italian in her face. But she pleases ; 
I saw that in the eyes of those present. As for me, I am 
wholly satisfied. She resembles her first portrait, not the 
second. To speak to you as I always do, I must tell you that 
I find her all that could be wished. I should be sorry if she 
were handsomer. We supped, and she did not fail in any- 
thing, and had a charming politeness to every one. To me- 
and to my son she behaved as you might have done. Her air 
is noble; her manners polished and agreeable. I have plea- 
sure in telling you such good of her, for I find that without 
prepossession or flattery I can do so, and everything obliges 
me to do so." 

When one considers who the writer of this letter was, and 
his standards of etiquette, such praise of so young a girl is- 
astonishing, and speaks volumes for her home training. 

The little Princess of Savoy was established at Versailles, 
and the impression she made on Madame de Maintenon was 
not less favorable than that she had made on the king. " Her 
cajoleries," says Saint-Simon, " soon bewitched Madame de- 
Maintenon, whom she called her ' aunt,' and whom she 
treated with a respect, and yet with a freedom, that ravished 
everybody. She became the doll of Madame de Maintenon 
and the king, pleased them infinitely by her insinuating spirit, 
and took greater liberties with them than the children of the 
king had ever dared to attempt." 

280 



The Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne 

On the 6th of December, 1697, the princess completed her 
twelfth year, and on the following day she became Duchesse 
de Bourgogne. " The marriage was fixed for Saturday, the 
7th of December, and to avoid disputes and difficulties, the 
king suppressed all ceremonies. At an early hour all the 
court went to Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne, who went after- 
ward to the princess. A little before midday the procession 
started from the grand salon ^ and proceeded to the chapel. 
Cardinal de Coislin performed the marriage service. As 
soon as the ceremony was finished, a courier, ready at the 
door of the chapel, started for Turin. The King and Queen 
of England came about seven o'clock in the evening, and some 
time afterward supper was served. Upon rising from table, 
the Duchesse de Bourgogne was shown to her bed, none but 
ladies being allowed to remain in the chamber. Her chemise 
was given her by the Queen of England, through the 
Duchesse de Lude. The Due de Bourgogne undressed in 
another room, in the midst of all the court, seated upon a 
folding-chair. The King of England gave him his shirt, 
which was presented by the Due de Beauvilliers. As soon as 
the Duchesse de Bourgogne was in bed, the duke entered, and 
placed himself at her side, in the presence of all the court. 
Immediately afterward everybody went away from the nup- 
tial chamber, except Monseigneur, the ladies of the Duchesse 
de Bourgogne, and the Due de Beauvilliers, who remained at 
the pillow by the side of his pupil, with the Duchesse de Lude 
on the other side. Monseigneur stopped a quarter of an hour 
talking with the newly married couple, and then made his son 
get up, after having told him to kiss the princess, in spite of 
the opposition of the Duchesse de Lude. As it proved, too, 
her opposition was not wrong. The king had said he did not 
wish that his grandson should kiss the end of the princess's 
finger until they were completely on the footing of man and 

'■ The salon of Peace. 
281 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

wife. The young couple were not, indeed, allowed to live 
together as man and wife until two years afterward. The 
Due de Bourgogne redressed himself in the antechamber, and 
went to his own bed as usual. The Duchesse de Bourgogne 
continued to live just as before, and her ladies had strict 
orders never to leave her alone with her husband. , . . The 
marriage-fetes spread over several days. On Sunday there 
was an assembly in the apartments of the new Duchesse de 
Bourgogne. It was magnificent by the prodigious number of 
ladies seated in a circle, or standing behind the stools, gen- 
tlemen in turn behind them, and the dresses of all beautiful. 
It commenced at six o'clock. The king came at the end, and 
led all the ladies into the salon ^ near the chapel, where there 
was a fine collation and the music. At nine o'clock he con- 
ducted the Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne to the apart- 
ment of the latter, and all was finished for the day. . . . On 
Wednesday there was a grand ball in the gallery, superbly 
ornamented for the occasion. There was such a crowd, and 
such disorder, that even the king was inconvenienced, and 
Monsieur was pushed and knocked about in the crush. How 
other people fared may be imagined. No place was kept, 
strength or chance decided everything, people squeezed in 
where they could. This spoiled all the fete. . . . On the fol- 
lowing Sunday there was another ball, but this time matters 
were so arranged that no crowding or inconvenience occurred. 
The ball commenced at seven o'clock, and was admirable. 
Everybody appeared in dresses that had not previously been 
seen. The king found that of Madame de Saint-Simon much 
to his taste, and gave it the palm over all the others. Madame 
de Maintenon did not appear at these balls, at least only for 
half an hour at each. On the following Tuesday all the 
court went at four o'clock in the afternoon to Trianon, where 
all gambled until the arrival of the King and Queen of Eng- 

* The salon of Mars. 
282 



The Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne 

land. The king took them into the theater, where Des- 
touches's opera of Isse was very well performed. The opera 
being finished, everybody went his way, and thus these mar- 
riage-fetes were brought to an end." ^ 

But the life of the Duchesse de Bourgogne had just begun. 
For fifteen years she was to be the pet of the court and the 
joy of the king. Never since he entered the world had the 
Grand Monarch been on anything like familiar terms with 
another human being; even in his love-making days he had 
never failed to be the king. But now in private with this 
amiable and lovable child, Sun King and Grand Monarch 
vanished, and Louis was a man and a grandfather. " In 
private, she clasped the king round the neck at all hours, 
jumped upon his knees, tormented him with all sorts of 
sportiveness, rummaged among his papers, opened his letters 
and read them in his presence, sometimes in spite of him, 
and acted in the same manner with Madame de Maintenon. 
Despite this extreme liberty, she never spoke against any one ; 
gracious to all, she endeavored to ward off blows from all 
whenever she could ; was attentive to all the private comforts 
of the king, even the humblest; kind to all who served, and 
living with her ladies, as with friends, in complete liberty, old 
and young; she was the darling of the court, adored by all; 
everybody missed her when she was away; when she reap- 
peared the void was filled up; everybody, great and small, 
was anxious to please her; in a word, she had attached all 
hearts to herself. . . . The king really could not do without 
her. Everything went wrong with him if she was not by; 
even at his public supper, if she were away, an additional 
cloud of seriousness and silence settled around him. She 
took great care to see him every day upon arriving and de- 
parting, and if some ball in winter, or some pleasure-party in 
summer, made her lose half the night, she nevertheless ad- 

^ Saint-Simon, I, pp. 106-108. 
283 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

justed things so well that she went and embraced the king- 
the moment he was up, and amused him with a description o£ 
the fete." 

The year after her marriage (1698), the king made the 
Duchesse de Bourgogne a splendid present, nothing less than 
the Menagerie of Versailles, with its handsome chateau,, 
courts, animals, birds, and gardens. The young duchess 
was full of joy. " They are working on my menagerie," she 
wrote to her grandmother (July 2, 1698). "The king has 
ordered Mansart to spare nothing. Imagine, my dear grand- 
mama, what it will be ! But I shall only see it on my return 
from Fontainebleau. It is true the king's kindnesses to me 
are wonderful; but, also, I love him well." The duchess 
took delight in her little domain, supped there frequently with 
her ladies, and amused herself much. She went to see the 
cows milked, and in her dairy she made butter herself, which 
was served to the king at table, and which His Majesty pro- 
nounced excellent. In March, 1703, the king came to see 
the improvements made at the Menagerie, in company with 
the Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne and the Due du Maine. 
In the following year the duchess received there Madame de 
Maintenon and the Duke of Mantua, and in 1705 the Prince 
of England, his sister, and the ladies of the court at St. 
Germain. The Due de Bourgogne and the Due de Berry 
came constantly, and in summer the king supped there fre- 
quently with the duchess and her ladies. She amused herself 
greatly. She fished in the grand canal, gave picnics and 
suppers, played cards and danced in her chateau, and took 
donkey-rides in the park. When she was permitted to mount 
a horse in 1707, she was overjoyed. On the 13th of June of 
that year, she gave a riding party, consisting of four of her 
ladies, her brother-in-law, the Due de Berry, her husband, 
and herself. They went at a gallop to Breteche, and on the 
return Mme. de Lorges had a rude fall. There were new 

284 




Marie Adelaide, Duchesse de Bourgogne 



The Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne 

riding parties at once, and the duchess and her ladies, who do 
not seem to have been sure of themselves, tried mounting 
astride, man-fashion, to hold on better. They learned, how- 
ever, and on the 29th of August, 1707, went, in grand caval- 
cade, to Chaville to sup with Monseigneur, the Princesse de 
Conti, and Mme. la Duchesse. 

But Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne had not been brought 
from Savoy to France to make butter or to ride horseback, 
but to give heirs to the crown. On the 25th of June, 1704, 
she did her duty bravely, and with all ceremony, in the queen's 
state bedchamber at Versailles. The Mercure Galant gives 
the following account of the birth of her first child, the Due 
de Bretagne : 

" On the 25th of June, Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne 
commenced to feel some pains, which increased a little toward 
noon, became stronger at half-past one, and from three o'clock 
until shortly after five, when the princess was delivered, were 
very strong and very frequent. She had had one about three 
o'clock which caused her to cry aloud, so that some people 
thought she was delivered. One of the valets of the Cham- 
ber, having heard M. Clement, the accoucheur, pronounce 
distinctly these words, ' I have it,' thought that he spoke of a 
prince that he was persuaded the princess was about to give 
birth to. M. Clement, however, spoke only of a cushion that 
he had asked for. The valet of the Chamber, excited by his 
zeal, ran to the little apartment of the Due de Bourgogne, 
where the duke had determined to remain while the duchess 
was in labor, and told him that Mme. la Duchesse de Bour- 
gogne had been delivered of a prince. In an instant all the 
apartments of the Duchesse de Bourgogne were filled with a 
crowd, brought together by this great news, which at the 
same time spread all over Versailles, where they lighted a 
quantity of fire. Orders were sent at once to stop the illu- 
mination, but it was too late to stop many couriers who had 

285 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

been despatched to Paris with the good news. Before the 
Due de Bourgogne was undeceived, the Due d'Albe, the am- 
bassador of Spain, threw himself at the feet of that prince, 
for whom he had particular respect, and said to him, embra- 
cing his knees, that after the joy he had in seeing him a father 
nothing would be wanting to his happiness if he could see his 
master, the King of Spain,^ a father also. The Due de 
Bourgogne replied : ' I know, monsieur, that your joy re- 
sponds to mine. This is a happy day for both of us. I hope 
for one of the same sort for the King of Spain.' He learned 
at that moment that his joy was premature, which gave him 
grief; but all was forgotten at five o'clock, when Mme. la 
Duchesse de Bourgogne was delivered after having borne her 
pains with wonderful courage. The king remained con- 
stantly by her side, with Monseigneur, and all the princes 
and princesses. M. Clement was somewhat troubled when 
the Duchesse de Bourgogne was delivered, because the child 
did not cry ; and for some moments there was silence. The 
king whispered in M. Clement's ear and asked what the child's 
sex was. He answered in a low tone that it was a boy. The 
king asked if he could declare it. Mme. de Bourgogne, who 
was watching the king, spoke, and said that she knew from 
His Majesty's expression of face that it was a boy. The fact 
was immediately announced aloud in the chamber. The king 
then said, ' This is the fourteenth Clement has given me.' To 
which Clement answered that he hoped to give him other 
children in the future. M. le Due de Berry announced the 
news to the Due de Bourgogne, and embraced him. The 
Papal Nuncio was the first foreign minister who entered, and 
was the first to compliment His Majesty upon this happy 
birth. The Due and Duchesse d'Albe then entered ; the duke 
said to the king that the good fortune of France was a happi- 
ness for Spain, and that personally nothing touched him more 
^ Philippe V, brother of the Due de Bourgogne. 
286 



The Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne 

than to see the king a great-grandfather, Monseigneur a 
grandfather, and the Due de Bourgogne a father. The king 
repHed that he thanked him for his sentiments, that he knew 
they were sincere, and that he was persuaded that this good 
fortune would be celebrated in Spain. The king then went to 
the door of the bedchamber, and announced the news to the 
courtiers who filled the grand cabinet, and received their con- 
gratulations. He told them that he had given the infant the 
name of Due de Bretagne. 

" Meanwhile the young prince had been placed in a swad- 
dling-cloth, and given to Mme. la Marechale de la Mothe, 
who carried him near the fire. He was baptized at once by 
the Cardinal de Coislin, in the presence of the cure of Ver- 
sailles; after which he was wrapped in his swaddling-clothes 
by a guard of the Duchesse de Bourgogne. The prince 
seemed healthy and strong. The Marechale de la Mothe car- 
ried him then to the Due de Bourgogne, who kissed him. 
Afterward she carried him to the door of the bedchamber, 
where were the sedan-chair and porters of the king. She 
entered the chair, and held the prince on her knees ; the Mare- 
chal de Noailles conducted him; and he was borne thus 
through the apartments to the room prepared for him. Later 
the king sent him the blue ribbon and the cross of the Order 
of St. Esprit. . . . Then His Majesty said that he must go to 
thank God for this grace, and went to chapel with the Due de 
Bourgogne. They remained there in prayer three quarters of 
an hour. On coming out of chapel the king held his council 
with his ministers, for His Majesty never postpones the busi- 
ness of the state." 

But, to the great grief of the duchess, this boy, whose birth 
caused so much rejoicing, died in the following year. On the 
8th of January, 1707, a second son was born, who also took 
the title Due de Bretagne. He died in 17 12, some few weeks 
after his mother and father. Her third son, who was to live 

287 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

and reign as Louis XV, saw the light on the 15th of February, 
17 10. It was of him that the Duchesse de Bourgogne wrote 
to her grandmother on the 24th of March of that year : " I 
was most agreeably mistaken, my dear grandmother, in giv- 
ing you another grandson. He is the prettiest child in the 
world, and I believe he will become a great beauty." In that 
she was not mistaken. He grew to be one of the handsomest 
men in his realm, but also one of the most corrupt. 

The Duchesse de Bourgogne loved the theater, and was 
herself a good actress. Even before her marriage, on the 
1 2th of January, 1697, she had taken, at St. Cyr, the role of a 
little Israelite in the tragedy of Esther, to the satisfaction of 
the king and Madame de Maintenon. In 1699 she took part 
in a number of performances given in the grand cabinet of 
Madame de Maintenon. They played Jonathas et Absalon, 
tragedies of Duche, the Ceinture Magique of Rousseau, ^ 
Athalie, and Les Precieuses Ridicules. The Duchesse de 
Bourgogne, the Due de Chartres, the Comte and Comtesse 
d'Ayen, and the young Comte de Noailles, all magnificently 
attired, had the chief parts. Baron, the old actor, instructed 
them and played with them. The minor parts were taken by 
domestics of M. de Noailles. There were in all but forty 
spectators — the king, Madame de Maintenon, Monseigneur, 
the Due de Bourgogne, the Due de Berry, the Princesse de 
Conti, the Due du Maine, and some ladies of the palace. In 
1702 the Palatine, then in mourning for Monsieur, was ad- 
mitted to a performance, since Madame de Maintenon thought 
it advisable to do so, after that scene when the king had re- 
quested her to make friends with the Palatine. In a letter, 
under date of February 3, 1702, to the King of Spain, the 
Palatine mentions the play. " Since Your Majesty is fond of 
plays, I cannot prevent myself from telling you that Mme. la 
Duchesse de Bourgogne has played with the Comtesse d'Ayen, 
Madame de Melun, my son, the Comte d'Ayen, Duche, 

288 




The Duchesse de Bourgogne as Diana 



The Due and Duehesse de Bourgogne 

Rousseau, and Baron. I assure you, monsieur, that they did 
wonderfully well. All this took place in private in the cab- 
inet of Madame de Maintenon. The king gave me permis- 
sion to see it. I was surprised to see how well they played. 
I am certain that Your Majesty would be astonished to see 
how my son played, and the Comte d'Ayen. This play 
would have made you weep. I cried like a fool, and the king 
could not keep back some tears also. The subject was the 
death of Absalom." 

The duchess loved jewels, and in September, 1700, the king 
gave her a necklace of twenty-one pearls, worth 50,000 
crowns. Later he gave her a supreme mark of his favor and 
confidence. "The king," says Dangeau (December 9, 1710), 
" has left to Mme. la Duehesse de Bourgogne the entire gov- 
ernment of her household, and the disposition of all the places 
that may become vacant. He had never done so for the 
queen, nor for Mme. la Dauphine." ^ The duchess had con- 
quered the heart of her royal grandfather-in-law. 

The secret of that conquest Saint-Simon has revealed: 
'' She spared nothing, not even her health, to gain the king 
and Madame de Maintenon. Her suppleness toward them 
was without example, and never for a moment was at fault. 
She accompanied it with all the discretion that her knowledge 
of them, acquired by study and experience, had given her, 
and could measure their dispositions to an inch. In this way 
she had acquired a familiarity with them such as none of the 
king's children had approached. In public, serious, mea- 
sured, with the king, and in timid decorum with Madame de 
Maintenon, whom she never addressed except as ' aunt,' thus 
prettily confounding friendship and rank; in private, prat- 
tling, skipping, flying around them, now perched upon the 
sides of their arm-chairs, now playing upon their knees, she 
clasped them round the neck, embraced them, kissed them, 

^ The wife of Monseigneur. 
'^ 289 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

caressed them, rumpled' them, tickled them under the chin, 
rummaged their tables and their papers, and broke open their 
letters, if she saw that her waggeries were likely to be re- 
ceived in good part." How could two old people, burdened 
with greatness, bound by etiquette, and oppressed with care, 
resist that ? But this triumph of the Duchesse de Bourgogne 
was not a thing of chance. She triumphed not only because 
she was amiable, light-hearted, and lovable, but because she 
possessed tact. We may be very certain that she never broke 
open a letter when she saw that her playfulness was not likely 
to be well received, and that she never rumpled the king at the 
wrong moment. She was sure of her ground always, because 
she " had measured his disposition to an inch." No child of 
his had ever had the wit to do that. The marvelous girl of 
eleven years whom he met at Montargis, who supped with 
him, and who " did not fail in anything," did not fail later, 
when she became Duchesse de Bourgogne. 

With the court her triumph was not less complete. " Her 
skilful father, who thoroughly knew our court, had painted it 
to her, and had made her acquainted with the only manner of 
making herself happy there. From the first moment of her 
arrival she had acted upon his lessons. Gentle, timid, but 
adroit, fearing to give the slightest pain to anybody, and 
though all lightness and vivacity, very capable of far-reaching 
views, constraint, even to annoyance, cost her nothing, though 
she felt all its weight. Regularly plain, a forehead too promi- 
nent, a nose without meaning, thick biting lips, hair and eye- 
brows of dark chestnut, and well planted, the most speaking 
and most beautiful eyes in the world, few teeth, and those de- 
cayed, about which she was the first to talk and jest, the most 
beautiful complexion and skin, not much bosom, but what 
there was admirable, her head carried gallantly, majestically, 
gracefully, her mien noble, her smile most expressive, her 
figure long, round, slender, easy, perfectly shaped, her walk 

290 



The Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne 

that of a goddess upon the clouds, with such quaHfications she 
pleased supremely. Grace accompanied her every step, and 
shone through her manners and her most ordinary conversa- 
tion. An air always simple and natural, often naive, but sea- 
soned with wit, this, with the ease peculiar to her, charmed all 
who approached her, and communicated itself to them. She 
wished to please even the most useless and the most ordinary 
persons, and yet without making an effort to do so. You were 
tempted to believe her wholly and solely devoted to those with 
whom she found herself. Her gaiety, young, quick, and ac- 
tive, animated all, and her nymph-like lightness carried her 
everywhere, like a whirlwind which fills several places at once, 
and gives them movement and life. She was the ornament of 
all diversions, the life and soul of all pleasure. Complacency 
was natural to her, flowed from her, and was exhibited toward 
every member of the court." ^ These few lines, written nearly 
two centuries ago by the Due de Saint-Simon, are the epi- 
taph of Marie Adelaide of Savoy. She did nothing great, and 
she died young, but she has the unique honor of having been 
the one person who drew the hearts of all the court to herself. 
The pomp and rigidity of etiquette never hardened her; 
flattery never spoiled her; hatred and malice halted at the 
threshold of her antechamber. Grace accompanied her ; com- 
placency flowed from her ; she sought to please even the most 
useless, even the most humble. 

The manner in which she became Dauphine of France has 
already been told.^ In less than a year from that time, she 
and her husband died. The cause of their deaths is still un- 
certain. Saint-Simon hints at poison, and mentions a box of 
Spanish snuff presented to the dauphine a week before she died 
by the Due de Noailles. On the other hand, no snuff was 
given to the dauphin, and Saint-Simon declares emphatically 
that he could never believe in the guilt of the Due de Noailles. 
^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 216. ° In the chapter on Monseigneur. 

291 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

If poison was used, suspicion seems to point more strongly to 
the Duchesse de Berry, proud, vicious, drunken, and de- 
bauched. Both the children of the dauphin fell ill, and one 
died ; had the other perished, the Due and Duchesse de Berry 
would have succeeded to the throne. But there is no proof 
that the Duchesse de Berry attempted this wholesale destruc- 
tion of the heirs of the crown ; and it was too much the fashion 
in that day to attribute everything to poison. All the facts 
being considered, the opinion of Dussieux is probably correct, 
that an epidemic of measles, then raging in Paris and Ver- 
sailles, and the culpable ignorance of the doctors, were the 
causes. With this view the Palatine is in accord : " Chirac 
said in her last illness that the Duchesse de Bourgogne would 
recover, and so she probably would have done if they had not 
permitted her to get up when the measles had broken out upon 
her and she was in a copious perspiration. Had they not bled 
her in the foot she might have been alive now (1716). Im- 
mediately after the bleeding, her skin, before as red as fire, 
changed to the paleness of death, and she became very ill. 
When they were lifting her out of bed I told them it was 
better to let the perspiration subside before they bled her. 
Chirac and Fagon, however, were obstinate and laughed at 
me. Old Maintenon said to me angrily, ' Do you think you 
know better than all these medical men ? ' " 1 

The Duchesse de Bourgogne died in the queen's chamber at 
Versailles about seven o'clock in the evening on the 12th of 
February, 1712. The king, who was with her until the end, 
" mounted into his coach at the foot of the marble staircase, 
and with Madame de Maintenon and Madame de Caylus went 
away to Marly. They were both in the most bitter grief, and 
had not the courage to go to the dauphin." 

The body of the dauphine was placed on a state bed in her 
grand cabinet. Six days later her husband died at Marly, and, 
^ Memoirs of the Duchesse d'Orleans, p. 198. 
292 



The Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne 

as Dangeau has said in a simple, touching line, " they then 
made the bed larger to place there the two bodies." " All the 
railings of the courtyards were hung with black, as were also 
the arches of the vestibule, the marble staircase, the Hall of 
the Guards, and all the apartments of the dauphine, from floor 
to ceiling. During all the time that the bodies of the dauphin 
and dauphine lay in state, an immense number of people 
passed through the grand cabinet and the apartments, as far 
as the barrier erected in the gallery, from which they regained 
the staircase through the Hall of the King's Guards." ^ 

On the 23d of February, 1712, side by side in the same 
funeral coach, Louis of France and Marie Adelaide of Savoy 
passed out of the gilded gateway of Versailles, leaving behind 
them a great chateau, draped with black and filled with bitter- 
ness, and at Marly a heartbroken king. 
^ Mercure, 1712. 



293 



IV 
THE DUC D'ANJOU 

PHILIPPE of France, Due d'Anjou, became King of 
Spain when he was seventeen, and the court of Ver- 
sailles saw nothing more of him after December, 
1700. Up to that time he had been quiet, obedient, 
reserved, and taciturn. " He must know people before he 
will speak to them at all," says the Palatine. " If you desire 
to talk to him, you must tease him and rally him a little, or he 
will not open his mouth. . . . He is bigger than his bro- 
thers. He has the best mien, good features, and fine hair. 
What is somewhat singular, although his hair is very light, 
his eyes are quite black ; his complexion is clear red and white ; 
he has an Austrian mouth ; his voice is deep, and he is singu- 
larly slow in speaking. He is a good and peaceable sort of a 
person, but a little obstinate when he takes it into his head." 
On state occasions the court saw him in his place on the steps 
of the throne ; that was about all. 

When his grandfather accepted the crown of Spain for him, 
he said little, and when the court came to do him homage, he 
said less. He had at Versailles a few days of prestige, a few 
days when he was forced into prominence. 

"The king, after his lever (November 16, 1700), sum- 
moned the Spanish ambassador into his cabinet, and, having 
called Mgr. le Due d'Anjou, who was in the back cabinet, he 
said to the ambassador, ' You can salute him as your king.' 

294 




Philippe of France, Due d'Anjou and King of Spain 



The Due d'Anjou 



The ambassador threw himself on his knees, and kissed the 
prince's hand in the Spanish manner. He then paid him a 
long compliment in Spanish. When he had finished, the king 
said to him, * He does not yet understand Spanish. It is for 
me to answer for him.' The courtiers were at the door of the 
king's cabinet. His Majesty ordered the usher to open both 
leaves of the door and allow all the courtiers to enter. The 
king said to them, ' Gentlemen, here is the King of Spain. 
His birth has called him to that crown. The nation has de- 
sired him, and asked him from me, and I have granted their 
wish with pleasure. This is the will of Heaven.' Then turn- 
ing toward the King of Spain, he said to him, ' Be a good 
Spaniard ; that is now your first duty ; but do not forget that 
you were born a Frenchman, and preserve the alliance between 
the two nations. That is the way to render them happy, and 
to preserve the peace of Europe.' His Majesty then addressed 
the ambassador, and pointing with his finger to the King of 
Spain, he said, ' If he follows my advice, you will be a great 
lord, and that soon; he cannot do better than follow your 
counsel.' Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne and Mgr. le Due de 
Berry embraced the King of Spain, and all three were in tears 
as they embraced. 

" Meanwhile, the Comte de Zinzendorf, the envoy of the 
emperor, was waiting for the audience he had asked for, to 
announce to the king the birth of an archduke, and he knew 
nothing of what had taken place. The king sent the King of 
Spain and the Spanish ambassador into the back cabinet, while 
he gave audience to the Comte de Zinzendorf. 

" The audience being finished, the king went to chapel. 
The King of Spain walked at his right side; and they heard 
mass together in the tribune. The king, seeing that the King 
of Spain had no cushion, wished to give him his own. The 
King of Spain was not willing to accept it; and, the king 
having drawn it from beneath his knees, neither one had it. 



295 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

On their return from chapel, as they were passing through the 
state apartments, the king told the King of Spain that one of 
these apartments should be made his bedchamber,^ for the 
time, that the courtiers might pay their court to him there." ^ 
On the 1st of December, 1700, the new King of Spain left 
Versailles, " in pomp, surrounded by many more guards than 
usual, gendarmes, and light horse," for his kingdom, where he 
was to lead a singularly colorless existence. In order to keep 
him there, his royal grandfather was soon involved in a war 
with Europe, and the War of the Spanish Succession brought 
the Grand Monarch to the brink of the abyss. He escaped de- 
struction only at the eleventh hour by the victory of Villars 
at Denain, 

^ The salon of Mercury. ' Le Mercure Galant, 1700. 



296 



THE DUG AND DUCHESSE DE BERRY 

CHARLES of France, Due de Berry, was the 
gayest, frankest, and most popular of the three 
sons of Monseigneur. Of medium height, rather 
stout, with Hght hair and a fresh handsome face, 
he had good health and was a great hunter. He had natural 
wit, but beyond reading and writing, he had learned little. 
Kind and accessible, without vanity or pride, he had almost 
persuaded himself that he was a fool. If the king looked hard 
at him, or talked to him of anything except hunting or shoot- 
ing, he became confused at once. He was ignorant, honest, 
sincere, amiable, and popular. In the one thing of importance 
which he was given to do, he failed. Before the peace was 
signed at Utrecht in 171 3, England demanded a renunciation 
of the crown of France on the part of the King of Spain, and 
a like renunciation with respect to Spain on the part of Louis 
XIV. Spain having made such renunciation, it remained for 
France to do so. The affair was a state ceremony in Parlia- 
ment at the Palais de Justice, and M. le Due de Berry was to 
represent the king. The Due de Berry was then twenty-seven. 
" Wednesday, the i8th of May, was fixed for the cere- 
mony," says Saint-Simon. " At six o'clock on the morning 
of that day I went to the apartments of M. le Due de Berry, in 
parliamentary dress, and shortly afterward M. d'Orleans came 
there also, with a grand suite. It had been arranged that the 

297 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

ceremony was to commence by a compliment from the Chief- 
President de Mesmes to M. le Due de Berry, who was to reply 
to it. He was much troubled at this. Madame de Saint- 
Simon, to whom he unbosomed himself, found means to ob- 
tain the discourse of the chief-president, and gave it to M. le 
Due de Berry, to regulate his reply by. This, however, 
seemed too much for him; he admitted so to Madame de 
Saint-Simon, and that he knew not what to do. She proposed 
that I should take the work off his hands, and he was de- 
lighted with the expedient. I wrote, therefore, a page and a 
half of common-sized paper in ordinary handwriting. M. le 
Due de Berry liked it, but thought it too long to be learned. 
I abridged it; he wished it to be still shorter, so that at last 
there was not more than three quarters of a page. He had 
learned it by heart, and repeated it in his cabinet the night 
before the ceremony to Madame de Saint-Simon, who encour- 
aged him as much as she could. About half-past six o'clock 
we set out ; M. le Due d'Orleans, M. le Due de Berry, myself, 
and M. le Due de Saint-Aignan in one coach, several other 
coaches following. M. le Due de Berry was very silent all the 
journey, appearing to be much occupied with the speech he 
had learned by heart. M. d'Orleans^ on the contrary, was full 
of gaiety, and related some of his youthful adventures, and 
his wild doings by night in the streets of Paris. We arrived 
at the Porte de la Conference at the end of the terrace of the 
Tuileries. We found there the trumpeters and drummers of 
M. le Due de Berry's guard, who made a great noise all the 
rest of our journey, which ended at the Palais de Justice. . . . 
All the princes of the blood, the peers, and the Parliament 
were assembled. When M. le Due de Berry entered, every- 
thing was ready. Silence having been with difficulty ob- 
tained, the chief-president paid his compliment to the prince. 
When he had finished, it was for M. le Due de Berry to re- 
^ Philippe, Due de Chartres and Due d'Orleans. 

298 



The Due and Duchesse de Berry 



ply. He half took off his hat, put it back again immediately, 
looked at the chief-president, and said, ' Monsieur ' ; after 
a moment's pause he repeated — ' Monsieur.' Then he looked 
at the assembly, and said again, ' Monsieur.' Afterward he 
turned toward M. d'Orleans, who, like himself, was as red as 
fire, next to the chief-president, and finally stopped short, 
nothing else than ' Monsieur ' having been able to issue from 
his mouth. I saw distinctly the confusion of M. le Due de 
Berry, and sweated at it ; but what could be done ? The duke 
turned again toward M. d'Orleans, who lowered his head; 
both were dismayed. At last the chief-president, seeing there 
was no other resource, finished this cruel scene, by taking off 
his cap to M. le Due de Berry, and inclining himself very low, 
as if the response was finished. Immediately afterward he 
told the king's people to begin. The embarrassment of the 
courtiers and the surprise of the magistracy may be im- 
agined! . . . During the journey to Versailles, M. le Due 
de Berry was as silent as ever. To add to his vexation, as 
soon as he arrived at Versailles, the Princesse de Montauban, 
without knowing a word of what had passed, set herself to 
exclaim, with her usual flattery, that she was charmed with 
the grace and the appropriate eloquence with which he had 
spoken at the Parliament. M. le Due de Berry blushed with 
vexation, and when at last he got rid of her, he went to his 
own apartments, said not a word to the persons he found 
there, scarcely one to his wife, but taking Madame de Saint- 
Simon with him, he went into his library, and shut himself 
up alone with her. Throwing himself into an arm-chair, he 
cried out that he was dishonored, and wept scalding tears. 
Then he related to Madame de Saint-Simon, in the midst of 
sobs, how he had stuck fast at the Parliament, said that he 
should everywhere be regarded as an ass and a blockhead, and 
repeated the compliments he had received from Madame de 
Montauban, who, he said, had laughed at him and insulted 



299 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

him, knowing well what had happened; then infuriated 
against her to the last degree, he called her all sorts of names. 
Madame de Saint-Simon spared no exertion in order to calm 
him, assuring him that Madame de Montauban could not 
possibly have known what had taken place, as the news had 
not reached Versailles, and that she had no other object than 
flattery in addressing him. Nothing availed. Complaints 
and silence succeeded each other in the midst of tears. Sud- 
denly falling upon the Due de Beauvilliers and upon the king, 
accusing them of the defects of his education, * They thought 
only of making me stupid,' he cried, ' and of stifling all my 
powers. I was a younger son. I coped with my brother. 
They feared the consequences; they annihilated me. I was 
taught only to play and to hunt, and they have succeeded in 
making me a fool and an ass, incapable of anything, the 
laughing-stock and disdain of everybody.' Madame de Saint- 
Simon was overpowered with compassion, and did everything 
to calm him. By degrees he became consoled, but never after- 
ward did any one dare to speak to him of his misadventure at 
the peace ceremony." ^ 

A good wife could have made something of the Due de 
Berry, but it was his misfortune to be tied to the drunken, de- 
bauched daughter of the Due d'Orleans. ^ That was largely 
Saint-Simon's doing, and a work he lived to regret. " I will 
say," he cries, " that if I had known, or merely suspected, that 
Mile. d'Orleans was as bad as she showed herself directly 
after her marriage, and always more and more since, she 
would never have become Duchesse de Berry." It was unfor- 
tunate that he did not find out, or suspect, because he was so 
frightfully energetic in bringing about the marriage. Mme. 
la Duchesse de Berry " partook of few meals in private at 
which she did not get so drunk as to lose consciousness, and 

^ Saint-Simon, II, pp. 246-248. 
" Philippe, Due de Chartres and Due d'Orleans. 

300 



The Due and Duehesse de Berry- 



to bring up all she had taken on every side. The presence of 
the Due de Berry, of the Due and Duehesse d'Orleans, and 
of the ladies with whom she was on familiar terms, in no way 
restrained her. She often treated her father with a haughti- 
ness which was terrifying on all accounts. In her gallantries 
she was as unrestrained as in other things." Though Ma- 
dame de Berry was brought drunk to Versailles after more 
than one supper, everything was very carefully hidden from 
the king and Madame de Maintenon. After the king's death, 
the duchess had a free rein, and her performances belong 
chiefly to the regency. 

Her husband did not live to see that day. While hunting 
in the spring of 1714, his horse sHpped, and in pulling him 
up, the Due de Berry struck hard against the pommel of the 
saddle, and broke a vein in his stomach. He died on Friday, 
the 4th of May, 17 14, at four o'clock in the morning, in his 
twenty-eighth year. 



301 



VI 

MONSIEUR AND MADAME 

MONSIEUR 

PHILIPPE of France, Due d'Orleans, was a strik- 
ing contrast to his kingly brother. He had, in com- 
mon with Louis, a " perfect court air," the result 
of the training of Anne of Austria, and, to the 
great annoyance of Saint-Simon, his features recalled those 
of Louis XIII, who, because he had advanced the interests of 
the elder Saint-Simon, was, in the opinion of the son, the 
model sovereign. " Monsieur was a little round-bellied man, 
who wore such high-heeled shoes that he seemed mounted 
always upon stilts ; always decked out like a woman, covered 
everywhere with rings, bracelets, jewels; with a long black 
wig powdered and curled in front; with ribbons wherever 
he could put them ; steeped in perfumes, and in fine a model 
of cleanliness. He was accused of putting on an impercepti- 
ble touch of rouge. He had a long nose, good eyes and 
mouth, a full but very long face. All his portraits resembled 
him." 

When in Paris, he resided at the Palais Royal, but he lived 
chiefly at his Chateau of St. Cloud, and as his brother would 
not allow him to have any authority, he lived for pleasure 
only. " At St. Cloud, where all his numerous household as- 
sembled, there were many ladies who, to speak the truth, 
would scarcely have been received elsewhere, but many also 

302 



Monsieur and Madame 



of a higher set, and a great store of gamblers. The pleasures 
of all kinds of games, and the singular beauty of the place, 
where a thousand caleches were always ready to whirl even 
the most lazy ladies through the drives, soft music and good 
cheer, made it a palace of delight, grace, and magnificence." 

Having lost his first wdfe, Henriette d'Angleterre, in 1670, 
he was married in 1671 to Elizabeth-Charlotte, Princess 
Palatine. As his wife, she can speak of him with some au- 
thority. " Monsieur was very small ; his hair and eyebrows 
were quite black, his eyes were dark, his face long and nar- 
row, his nose large, his mouth small. He was fond of cards, 
of holding drawing-rooms, of eating, dancing, and dress; in 
short, of all that women are fond of. The king loved hunt- 
ing, was fond of talking of war, and had all manly tastes and 
habits. My husband rather affected large parties and mas- 
querades. He danced well, but in a feminine manner; he 
could not dance like a man because his shoes were too high- 
heeled. Excepting when he was with the army, he would 
never get on horseback. The soldiers used to say that he 
was more afraid of being sunburnt and of the blackness of 
the powder than of the musket-balls, and it was very true. 
He was fond of building. He was so fond of the ringing of 
bells that he used to go to Paris on All Souls' Day for the 
purpose of hearing the bells, which are rung during the whole 
of the vigils on that day. He liked no other music, and was 
often laughed at for it by his friends; he would join in the 
joke, and confess that a peal of bells delighted him beyond all 
expression. He wrote so badly that he was often puzzled to 
read his own letters, and would bring them to me to decipher 
them. He was of a good disposition enough, and if he had 
not yielded so entirely to the bad advice of his favorites, he 
would have been the best master in the world. I loved him, 
although he caused me a great deal of pain." 

He did undoubtedly cause her pain. He was effeminate 



303 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

and debauched. " His minions, who owed him everything," 
says Saint-Simon, " sometimes treated him most insolently, 
and he had often much to do to appease horrible jealousies. 
He lived in continual hot water with his favorites, to say 
nothing of the quarrels of that troop of ladies of a very de- 
cided character, many of whom were very malicious, and most 
of them more than malicious, with whom Monsieur used to 
divert himself, entering into all their wretched squabbles." 

Yet this prince had in him a possibility of better things. In 
the campaign of 1677, he won a battle. " Monsieur got the 
start of the Prince of Orange, gave him battle near Cassel, 
obtained a complete victory, immediately took St. Omer, and 
then joined the king. Never afterward did the king give 
Monsieur the command of an army." Louis was determined 
that his brother should not be a great personage, nor a power 
in the state. Cassel was the only important thing Monsieur 
ever did, or was allowed to do. His education and environ- 
ment were all against him, and as he was without resources, 
with no taste for application, reading, or self-improvement, 
he fell naturally into luxurious idleness and debauchery. But 
he kept his grand manners, none the less. " He loved great 
people, and was so affable and polite that crowds came to him. 
The difference which he knew how to make, and which he 
never failed to make, between every one according to his posi- 
tion, contributed greatly to his popularity. In his receptions, 
by his greater or more neglectful attention, and by his words, 
he always marked in a flattering manner the differences made 
by birth and dignity, by age and merit, and by profession; 
and all this with a dignity natural to him, and a constant fa- 
cility which he had acquired." 

By his first wife he had had two daughters, and by his 
second, a daughter, and a son Philippe, the future Regent of 
France. He was too easy-going to exert much authority over 
them. " He loved his children too well even to reprove them 

304 



Monsieur and Madame 



when they deserved it," says the Palatine. " If he had occa- 
sion to make complaints of them, he used to come to me with 
them. ' But, Monsieur,' I have said, ' they are your children 
as well as mine ; why do you not correct them ? ' He replied, 
' I do not know how to scold, and besides they would not care 
for me if I did ; they fear no one but you.' By always threat- 
ening the children with me, he kept them in constant fear 
of me." 

He lived on good terms with his brother, was merry with 
him in private, without ever attempting to place himself on 
an equal footing, and in public treated him with great rever- 
ence. " In what regarded his service, and in his manner of 
approaching and leaving the king, no private person could 
behave with more respect." The Grand Monarch had so 
tight a grip on all the members of the royal family that not 
one of them failed to render him proper homage, and the 
effect of this upon the courtiers was marked. When the fam- 
ily met in the king's cabinet at Versailles in the evenings after 
supper, Monsieur alone had an arm-chair in the king's pres- 
ence. 

The one quarrel of a serious nature between Louis and 
Monsieur took place just before the latter's death. The king, 
who was anxious to advance and establish his illegitimate 
children, had brought about a marriage between Mile, de 
Blois, his second daughter by Madame de Montespan, and the 
Due de Chartres, son of Monsieur. It was upon the subject 
of the Due de Chartres that the royal brothers quarreled. 
" For some time past Monsieur had been sorely grieved that 
his son, M. le Due de Chartres, had not been appointed to 
the command of an army. When M. de Chartres married, the 
king, who had converted his nephew by force into a son-in- 
law, promised him all kinds of favors, but except those which 
were written down in black and white, had not given him 
any. M. de Chartres, annoyed at this, and at the manner in 

20 



305 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

which the illegitimate children ^ were promoted over his head, 
had given himself up to all kinds of youthful follies and ex- 
cesses. The king was surprised to find Monsieur agree with 
his son's ambition for a command, but gave a flat refusal 
when overtures were made to him on the subject. Monsieur, 
therefore, winked at all the escapades performed or threatened 
by his son, and said nothing, not being sorry that the king 
should become uneasy, which was soon the case. The king at 
last spoke to Monsieur, and being coldly received, reproached 
him for not knowing how to exercise authority over his son. 
Upon this Monsieur fired up, and quite as much from fore- 
gone decision as from anger, in his turn asked the king what 
was to be done with a son at such an age, who was sick of 
treading the galleries of Versailles and the pavement of the 
court, of being married as he was, and of remaining, as it 
were, naked, while his brothers-in-law were clothed in digni- 
ties, governments, establishments, and offices, against all pol- 
icy and example. His son, he said, was worse off than any 
one in the king's service, for all others could earn distinction. 
He added that idleness was the mother of all vice, and that it 
gave him much pain to see his only son abandon himself to 
debauchery and bad company, but that it would be cruel to 
blame a young man, forced as it were into these follies, and 
to say nothing against him by whom he was thus forced. 
The king was astonished to hear this straightforward lan- 
guage. Monsieur before had never let out to within a thou- 
sand leagues of this tone, which was only the more annoying 
because supported by unanswerable reasons that did not con- 
vince. Mastering his embarrassment, however, the king an- 
swered as a brother rather than as a sovereign, endeavoring 
by gentle words to calm the excitement of Monsieur. But 
Monsieur was stung to the quick by the king's neglect of M. 
de Chartres, and would not be pacified. The conversation 
^ The Due du Maine and the Comte de Toulouse. 
306 



Monsieur and Madame 



lasted very long, and was pushed very far, Monsieur through- 
out taking the high tone, the king very gentle. They sepa- 
rated in this manner; Monsieur frowning, but not daring to 
break out ; the king annoyed, but not wishing to estrange his 
brother, much less to let their squabble be known. As Mon- 
sieur passed most of his summers at St. Cloud, the separation 
which this occasioned put them at their ease, while waiting 
for a reconciliation. ... In public little or nothing appeared, 
except that familiar people remarked politeness and attention 
on the king's part, and coldness on that of Monsieur. Nev- 
ertheless, being advised not to push matters too far, Monsieur 
gave his son a lecture, and made him change his conduct by 
degrees. But Monsieur still remained irritated against the 
king, and this completely upset him, accustomed as he had 
always been to live on the best of terms with his brother, and 
to be treated by him in every respect as such, except that the 
king would not allow Monsieur to become a great personage. 
"On Thursday, the 8th of June (1701), Monsieur went 
from St. Cloud to dine with the king at Marly, and, as was 
his custom, entered the cabinet after the council. He found 
the king angry with M. de Chartres for neglecting his wife 
and allowing her to seek consolation for this neglect in the 
society of others. The Due de Chartres was at that time 
enamoured of Mile, de Sery, maid of honor to Madame, and 
carried on his suit in the most open and flagrant manner. 
The king took this for his theme, and very stiffly reproached 
Monsieur for the conduct of his son. Monsieur, who needed 
little to exasperate him, tartly replied that fathers who led 
certain lives had little authority over their children, and 
little right to blame them. The king, who felt the point of the 
answer, fell back on the patience of his daughter, and said 
that at least she ought not to be allowed to see the truth so 
clearly. But Monsieur was resolved to have his fling, and 
recalled, in the most aggravating manner, the conduct the 



307 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

king had once adopted toward his queen, with respect to his 
mistresses, even allowing the latter to accompany him in his 
journeys, the queen at his side, and all in the same coach. 
This last remark drove the king beyond all patience, and he 
redoubled his reproaches, so that presently both were shout- 
ing to one another at the top of their voices. The door of 
the apartment in which they wrangled was open, and only 
covered by a curtain, as was the custom at Marly, and the 
adjoining room was full of courtiers, waiting to see the king 
go by to dinner. On the other side was a little salon, devoted 
to very private purposes, and filled with valets, who could 
hear distinctly every word of what passed. The usher at the 
door, upon hearing this noise, entered, and told the king 
how many people were within hearing, and immediately re- 
tired. The conversation did not stop, however; it was sim- 
ply carried on in a lower tone. Monsieur continued his 
reproaches; said that the king, in marrying his daughter to 
M. de Chartres, had promised marvels, and had done nothing; 
that for his part, he had wished his son to serve in the army, 
to keep him out of the way of these intrigues, but that his 
demands had been in vain. The king, more and more carried 
away by anger, replied that the war would soon oblige him 
to make some retrenchments, and that he would commence 
by cutting down the pensions of Monsieur, since he showed 
himself so little accommodating. At this moment the king 
was informed that his dinner was ready, and both he and 
Monsieur left the cabinet and went to table; Monsieur all 
fury, flushed, and with eyes inflamed by anger. His face thus 
crimsoned induced some ladies, who were at the king's table, 
and some courtiers behind, but more for the purpose of say- 
ing something than anything else, to make the remark that 
Monsieur, by his appearance, had great need of bleeding. 
The same thing had been said some time before at St. Cloud ; 
he was absolutely too full; and, indeed, he had himself ad- 

308 



Monsieur and Madame 



mitted that it was true. Even the king, in spite of their 
squabble, had more than once pressed him to consent. But 
Tancrede, Monsieur's head surgeon, was old and an unskilful 
bleeder; he had missed fire once. Monsieur would not be 
bled by him, and, not to vex him, was good enough to refuse 
to be bled by another, and to die in consequence. Upon hear- 
ing this observation about bleeding, the king spoke to Mon- 
sieur again on the subject, and said he did not know what pre- 
vented him from having Monsieur taken at once to his room 
and bled by force. The dinner passed then in the ordinary 
manner, and Monsieur ate extremely, as he did at all his 
meals, to say nothing of an abundant supply of chocolate in 
the morning, and what he swallowed all day in the shape of 
fruit, pastry, preserves, and dainties of every kind, with which 
indeed the tables of his cabinets and his pockets were always 
filled. 

" Upon rising from table, the king, in his carriage, alone, 
went to St. Germain to visit the King and Queen of England. 
The other members of the royal family went there likewise 
separately. Monsieur, after going there also, returned to St. 
Cloud. 

" In the evening after supper, the king was in his cabinet 
at Marly with Monseigneur and the princesses, as at Ver- 
sailles, when a messenger came from St. Cloud, and asked 
to see the king in the name of the Due de Chartres. He was 
admitted into the cabinet, and said that Monsieur had been 
taken very ill while at supper, that he had been bled, that he 
was better, and that an emetic had been given to him. The 
fact was that Monsieur had supped as usual with the ladies 
who were at St. Cloud, and during the meal, as he poured out 
a glass of liqueur for Madame de Bouillon, it was perceived 
that he stammered and pointed at something with his hand. 
As it was customary for him sometimes to speak Spanish, 
some of the ladies asked what he said, others cried aloud. All 



309 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

this was the -work of an instant, and immediately afterward 
Monsieur fell in a fit of apoplexy upon M. de Chartres, who 
supported him. He was taken to his apartment, shaken, 
moved about, bled considerably, and had strong emetics ad- 
ministered to him, but scarcely any signs of life did he show. 
" Upon hearing this news, the king, who had been accus- 
tomed to fly to Monsieur for a mere nothing, went to the 
apartment of Madame de Maintenon, and had her waked up. 
He passed a quarter of an hour with her, and then, toward 
midnight, returning to his room, he ordered his coach to be 
got ready, and sent the Marquis de Gesvres to St. Cloud to 
see if Monsieur was worse, in which case the marquis was to 
return and wake him. The king then went to bed. Besides 
the strained relation in which he and Monsieur were at that 
time, I think the king suspected some artifice, and that he 
went in consequence to consult Madame de Maintenon, and 
preferred sinning against all laws of propriety to running the 
chance of being duped. Madame de Maintenon did not like 
Monsieur ; she feared him. He paid her very little court, and 
despite all his timidity and deference, observations escaped 
him, at times when he was with the king, which marked his 
disdain of her. She was not eager, therefore, to advise the 
king to go and visit him, still less to commence a journey by 
night, with the loss of rest, and witnessing a spectacle so sad, 
so likely to touch him, and make him make reflections on him- 
self. She hoped that if things went quietly he might be 
spared the trouble altogether. A moment after the king had 
gotten into bed, a page came to say that Monsieur was bet- 
ter, and that he had just asked for some Schaffhausen water, 
which is excellent for apoplexy. An hour and a half later, 
another messenger came, awakened the king, and told him 
that the emetic had had no effect, and that Monsieur was very 
ill. At this the king rose and set out at once. On the way 
he met the Marquis de Gesvres, who was coming to fetch him, 

310 



Monsieur and Madame 



and brought similar news. It may be imagined what hubbub 
and disorder there was this night at Marly, and what horror 
at St. Cloud, that palace of delight ! Everybody who was at 
Marly hastened as he was best able to St. Cloud. Whoever 
was ready first started together. Men and women jostled 
■each other, and threw themselves into the coaches without 
order, and without regard to etiquette. Monseigneur was 
with Mme. la Duchesse. He was so struck by what had oc- 
curred, and its resemblance to what he himself had experi- 
enced,^ that he could scarcely stand, and was dragged, almost 
carried, to the carriage, all trembling. 

" The king arrived at St. Cloud before three o'clock in the 
morning. Monsieur had not had a moment's consciousness 
since his attack. A ray of intelligence came to him for an 
instant, while his confessor, Pere du Trevoux, went to say 
mass, but it returned no more. The most horrible sights have 
often ridiculous contrasts. When the confessor came back, 
he cried, ' Monsieur, do you not know your confessor ? Do 
you not know the good little Pere du Trevoux, who is speak- 
ing to you ? ' This caused the less afflicted to laugh inde- 
cently. The king appeared much moved. He had never had 
cause not to love his brother tenderly, and although on bad 
terms with him for the last two months, these sad moments 
recalled all his tenderness; perhaps, too, he reproached him- 
self with having hastened death by the scene of the morning. 
The king heard mass at St. Cloud, and toward eight o'clock 
in the morning, Monsieur being past all hope, Madame de 
Maintenon and the Duchesse de Bourgogne persuaded the 
king to stay no longer, and returned with him in his carriage 
to Marly. As he was leaving, and was showing some sign of 
affection to the Due de Chartres, both weeping very much, 
that young prince did not fail to take advantage of the oppor- 
tunity. ' Sire ! ' he exclaimed, embracing the king's thighs, 
^ Monseigneur had had a slight attack of apoplexy not long before. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

* what will become of me ? I lose Monsieur, and I know that 
you do not like me.' The king, surprised and much touched, 
embraced him, and said all the tender things he could. 

" At the departure of the king from St. Cloud, all the 
crowd assembled there little by little withdrew, so that Mon- 
sieur, dying, stretched upon a couch in his cabinet, remained 
exposed to the valets and the lower officers of his household, 
the majority of whom, either by affection or interest, were 
much afflicted. . . . On arriving at Marly, the king went 
with the Duchesse de Bourgogne to the apartment of Madame 
de Maintenon. Three hours after came M. Fagon, who had 
been ordered not to leave Monsieur until he was dead or bet- 
ter, which could not be but by a miracle. As soon as he saw 
him, the king said, 'Well, M. Fagon, my brother is dead?' 

* Yes, Sire,' said Fagon. * No remedy has taken effect.' 
The king wept a good deal. He was pressed to dine with 
Madame de Maintenon, but he would not do so, and had his 
dinner, as usual, with the ladies. Tears often ran down his 
cheek during the meal, which was short. Then he shut him- 
self up in Madame de Maintenon's apartments until seven 
o'clock, when he took a turn in the garden. Afterward he 
worked with Chamillart and Pontchartrain, and arranged all 
the funeral ceremonies of Monsieur. He supped an hour be- 
fore his customary time, and went to bed soon afterward. 

" Next morning, Friday, the 9th of June, the Due de Char- 
tres came to the king, who was still in bed, and who spoke to 
him in a very friendly manner. He said that the duke must 
for the future regard him as his father, that he would take 
care of his position and his interests, that he had forgotten all 
the causes of anger he had had against him, and that he hoped 
the duke would also forget them. It may easily be conceived 
how well M. de Chartres answered all this. ... As for M. 
de Chartres himself, he was prodigiously well treated. The 
king gave him all the pensions Monsieur had enjoyed, be- 

312 




£;/ p^rmUsion of Bra.,, n. Clement j- Co. 

Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchesse d"Orleans, Princess Palatine 



Monsieur and Madame 



sides allowing him to retain his own, so that he had i,8oo,- 
ooo livres a year, in addition to the Palais Royal, St. Cloud, 
and other mansions. He had a Swiss guard, which none 
but the sons of France had ever had before, and, in fact, he 
retained all the privileges his father had enjoyed, and took 
the title of Due d'Orleans. All these honors, so great and 
so unheard-of, bestowed on M. de Chartres, and an income of 
100,000 crowns more than his father had had, were due solely 
to the recent quarrel between Monsieur and the king." ^ 

In such fashion the king made amends for his quarrel with 
Monsieur, and a few years later the new Due d'Orleans was 
given command of an army in Italy. 

MADAME 

The second wife of Monsieur was an uncommon woman, and 
had by no means an easy time at the court of Versailles. She 
was homely, blunt, and outspoken ; she was first and last and 
always a German; she had neither French tastes nor French 
manners, and considered it quite beneath her to acquire 
them ; flattery was a fine art she never knew ; she loved hunt- 
ing, horses and dogs, and German dishes; she spoke her 
mind, and called a spade a spade. With such a character, it 
may be imagined what an aversion she took to Madame de 
Maintenon, and the hatred was mutual. But in spite of all 
that was done to prejudice the king against her, Louis recog- 
nized her worth, seeing beneath a rough exterior a genuine 
heart. " She passed her days," says Saint-Simon, " in a little 
cabinet she had chosen, where the windows were ten feet from 
the ground, gazing perpetually on the portraits of Paladins 
and other German princes, with which she had tapestried the 
walls, and writing with her own hand whole volumes of let- 
ters, of which she always kept autograph copies." It is from 
these letters, written chiefly to the Duke and Duchess of 

* Saint-Simon, I, pp. 209-218. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

Brunswick, that we are able to know the character of EHza- 
beth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans. 

" If my father ^ had loved me as well as I loved him," she 
says, " he would never have sent me into a country so dan- 
gerous as this, to which I came through pure obedience and 
against my own inclination. Here duplicity passes for wit, 
and frankness is looked upon as folly. I am neither cunning 
nor mysterious. ... I am unquestionably very ugly. My 
eyes are small, my nose is short and thick, my lips are long 
and flat ; these do not constitute much of a physiognomy. If 
I had not a good heart, no one could endure me. To know 
whether my eyes give tokens of possessing wit, they must be 
examined with a microscope, or it will be difficult to judge. 
Hands more ugly than mine are not perhaps to be found on 
the whole globe. The king has often told me so, and has 
made me laugh at it heartily; for not being able to flatter 
even myself that I possessed any one thing which could be 
called pretty, I resolved to be the first to laugh at my own 
ugliness; this has succeeded as well as I could have wished, 
and I must confess that I have seldom been at a loss for 
something to laugh at. I am not good at lying in bed; as 
soon as I awake I must get up. I seldom breakfast, and then 
only on bread and butter. I take neither chocolate, nor 
coffee, nor tea, not being able to endure those foreign drugs. 
I am German in all my habits. ... I never had anything 
like French manners, and I never could assume them, because 
I always considered it an honor to be born a German, and al- 
ways cherished the maxims of my own country, which are 
seldom in favor here. In my youth I loved swords and guns 
much better than toys. I wished to be a boy. . . . Upon my 
arrival in France I was made to hold a conference with three 
bishops. They all differed in their creeds, and so, taking the 
quintessence of their opinions, I formed a religion of my 
^ Charles-Louis, Elector Palatine. 



Monsieur and Madame 



own. ... I was very glad when, after the birth of my 
daughter/ my husband proposed separate beds; for, to tell 
the truth, I was never very fond of having children. When 
he proposed it to me, I answered, ' Yes, Monsieur, I shall be 
very well contented with the arrangement, provided you do 
not hate me, and that you will continue to behave with some 
kindness to me.' He promised, and we were very well satis- 
fied with each other. ... I obeyed the late Monsieur by not 
troubling him with my embraces, and always conducted my- 
self toward him with respect and submission. He was a 
good sort of man, notwithstanding his weaknesses, which, 
indeed, oftener excited my pity than my anger. I must con- 
fess that I did occasionally express some impatience, but when 
he begged pardon, it was all forgotten. ... I cared little for 
dress, because jewels and decoration attract attention. As 
Monsieur loved to be covered with diamonds, it was fortu- 
nate that I did not regard them, for otherwise we should have 
quarreled about who was to wear them. . , . Monsieur was 
taken ill at ten o'clock at night, but he did not die until the 
next day at noon. I can never think of that night without 
horror. I remained with him from ten at night until five the 
next morning, when he lost all consciousness. . . , After 
Monsieur's death the king sent to ask me whither I wished 
to retire, whether to a convent in Paris, or to Montargis, or 
elsewhere. I replied that as I had the honor to be of the 
royal house I could not live but where the king was, and 
that I intended to go directly to Versailles. The king was 
pleased at this, and came to see me. He somewhat mortified 
me by saying that he sent to ask me whither I wished to go 
because he had not imagined that I would choose to stay 
where he was. I replied that I did not know who could have 
told His Majesty anything so false and injurious, and that I 
had a much more sincere respect and attachment for him 
^ Elizabeth-Charlotte d'Orleans, born in 1676. 



315 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

than those who had thus falsely accused me. The king then 
dismissed all the persons present, and we had a long explana- 
tion, in the course of which the king told me I hated Madame 
de Maintenon. I confessed that I did hate her, but only 
through my attachment for him, and because she did me 
wrong to His Majesty; nevertheless, I added that, if it were 
agreeable to him that I should be reconciled to her, I was 
ready to become so. The old woman was not prepared for 
this, or she would not have suffered the king to come to me. 
He was, however, so satisfied that he remained favorable to 
me up to his last hour. He made old Maintenon come, and 
said to her, * Madame is willing to make friends with you.' 
He then caused us to embrace, and there the scene ended. 
He required her also to live upon good terms with me, which 
she did in appearance, but secretly played me all sorts of 
tricks. . . . The Chateau of Montargis is my jointure; at 
Orleans there is no house. St. Cloud is not a part of the 
hereditary property, but was bought by Monsieur with his 
own money. Therefore my jointure produces nothing; all 
that I have to live on comes from the king and my son. At 
the commencement of my widowhood I was left unpaid, and 
there was an arrear of 300,000 francs due to me, which was 
not paid until after the death of the king. What then would 
have become of me if I had chosen to retire to Montargis? 
My household expenses amounted annually to 298,758 livres." 
The most bitter pill that the Palatine had to swallow was 
the marriage of her son Philippe to Mile, de Blois, daughter 
of the king and Madame de Montespan. " If, by shedding 
my own blood, I could have prevented my son's marriage," 
she says in her Memoirs, " I would willingly have done so." 
In her eyes a bastard was a bastard, king or no king. " I am 
a right German," she said proudly, " and could never endure 
unequal alliances." As may be imagined, the king did not 
apply to her at first, but gained Monsieur and the young Due 

316 



Monsieur and Madame 



de Chartres. As soon as Madame learned of the project, she 
spoke to her son with force, and drew from him a promise 
that he would never consent to it. But how could Philippe 
d'Orleans, a youth of eighteen, resist the will of a man like 
the Grand Monarch? 

"One day early after dinner (1692)," says Saint-Simon, 
" I saw the Due de Chartres, with a very sad air, come out of 
his apartment, and enter the cabinet of the king. He found 
His Majesty alone with Monsieur. The king spoke very 
obligingly to the Due de Chartres, said that he wished to see 
him married, that he offered him his daughter, but that he did 
not intend to constrain him in the matter, but left him quite 
at liberty. This discourse, however, pronounced with that 
terrifying majesty so natural to the king, and addressed to a 
timid young prince, took away his voice and quite unnerved 
him. He thought to escape from his slippery position by 
throwing himself upon Monsieur and Madame, and stammer- 
ingly replied that the king was master, but that a son's will 
depended upon that of his parents. ' What you say is 
very proper,' replied the king ; ' but as soon as you consent 
to my proposition your father and mother will not oppose it.' 
And then turning to Monsieur, he said, ' Is this not true, my 
brother ? ' Monsieur consented, as he had already done, and 
the only person remaining to consult was Madame, who was 
immediately sent for. As soon as she came, the king, mak- 
ing her acquainted with his project, said that he reckoned she 
would not oppose what her husband and her son had already 
agreed to. Madame, who had counted on the refusal of her 
son, was tongue-tied. She threw two furious glances upon 
Monsieur and the Due de Chartres, and then said that as 
they wished it, she had nothing to say, made a slight rever- 
ence to the king, and left the cabinet. Her son immediately 
followed her to explain his conduct ; but railing against him, 
with tears in her eyes, she would not listen, and drove him 

317 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

from her room. Her husband, who joined her shortly after- 
ward, met with almost the same treatment. . . . On the 
morrow we went to wait as usual in the grand gallery for the 
king to go to chapel. Madame came there. Her son ap- 
proached her, as he did every day, to kiss her hand. At that 
very moment she gave him a box on the ear, so sonorous 
that it was heard several steps distant. Such treatment in 
the presence of all the court covered with confusion this un- 
fortunate prince, and overwhelmed the infinite number of 
spectators, of whom I was one, with prodigious astonish- 
ment. That day the immense dowry was declared, and on 
Sunday there was a grand ball. ... I had been that morning 
to wait on Madame, who could not refrain from saying, in a 
sharp angry voice, that I was doubtless very glad of the 
promise of so many balls, as was natural at my age, but that, 
for her part, she was old, and wished they were well 
over. . . . On the Monday before Shrove Tuesday, all the 
marriage party and the bride and bridegroom, superbly 
dressed, repaired a little before noon to the cabinet of the 
king, and afterward to chapel. The Cardinal de Bouillon, 
in full robes, married them and said mass." ^ 

Madame was an intrepid huntress, and went to the chase 
two or three times a week, attending the stag-hunts of the 
king and the wolf-hunts of Monseigneur. She saw in all 
more than a thousand stags taken, and had in all some 
twenty- four or twenty-five falls from her horse. " Mais 
cela ne m'a pas eifrayee," she adds coolly. " I know very 
well," she said in 1706, " what it is to be exposed in hunting 
to a burning sun. Many times I remain at the chase from 
early morning until five in the evening, and in summer until 
nine at night. I come back red as a lobster." In 1683, in 
the hunt at Fontainebleau, she saved herself from injury by 
her presence of mind. " In the last hunt at Fontainebleau, a 
^ Saint-Simon, I, pp. 12-18. 



Monsieur and Madame 



serious accident would have happened to me if I had not 
jumped quickly from my horse. A deer, terrified by the 
chase, and even more so by meeting a horseman in front of 
me, rushed directly at me with such force that, in spite of all 
my efforts to restrain my horse, I could not stop him quickly 
enough to avoid the shock with the beast, which came bound- 
ing, striking my horse in the mouth, and breaking the bit and 
bridle. My horse was so frightened that he did not know 
what he did ; he snorted and leaped to one side. When I saw 
that the bit held him no longer, I turned the bridle into his 
mouth, leaped to the ground, and held him fast until my 
people ran to my assistance. If I had not dismounted so 
quickly, my horse would doubtless have broken my neck. 
This adventure made such a stir at court that for two days 
they talked of nothing else. Here people transform a trifle 
into a great affair." In 1697 she was not so fortunate: " I 
must tell you what has happened to me. I had gone with 
Monseigneur to hunt the wolf. It had rained, and the 
ground was icy and slippery. We had hunted for two hours 
without finding a wolf, and were on our way to another lo- 
cality where we counted upon finding one, when, as we were 
Vfollowing the path, a wolf suddenly appeared in front of my 
horse. My horse reared, and slipped, and fell on its right 
side. My elbow struck a large stone, and I dislocated the 
bone." A peasant in the vicinity set her arm without diffi- 
culty, and the Palatine returned to St. Cloud with little suf- 
fering; but as soon as the court doctors got hold of her, they 
reset her arm, and she suffered much, and a month later was 
hardly able to raise her hand to her mouth. " I think," said 
she, " that they were simply jealous of what the poor peasant 
had done so well." 

In those eight hundred and odd letters found among the 
papers of the Duchess of Brunswick, Madame had much to 
say about all the chief figures of the court of Louis XIV, but 



319 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

upon the subject of Madame de Maintenon she waxed elo- 
quent. " Goody Scarron," the " old woman," and the " old 
witch " are her favorite terms. Her portrait of Madame de 
Maintenon is in some particulars little more than a carica- 
ture; yet volumes might be written on the subject, and fail 
to bring out the duplicity of Madame de Maintenon and the 
dupability of the Grand Monarch, as do these few lines from 
the Palatine's pen : " Nobody at court used perfumery except 
that old woman; her gloves were always scented with jessa- 
mine. The king could not bear scent on any other person, 
and only endured it in her because she made him believe that 
it was somebody else who was perfumed." ^ 

It was not the least of the satisfactions of the Palatine 
that she lived to see her son, Philippe, Regent of France, and 
Madame de Maintenon in obscurity at St. Cyr. 

^ Memoirs of the Duchesse d'Orleans, p. 83. 



320 



VII 
THE DUG AND DUCHESSE DE CHARTRES 

THE DUC DE CHARTRES 

PHILIPPE, Due de Chartres, only son of Monsieur 
and Madame, and sole nephew of the king, had un- 
usual ability. " Never was man born with so many 
talents," says Saint-Simon, " with so much readi- 
ness and facility in making use of them, and yet never was 
man so idle, so given up to vacuity and weariness. Madame 
painted him very happily by an illustration from fairy-tales, 
of which she was full. She said that all the fairies had been 
invited to his birth, that all came, and that each gave him some 
talent, so that he had them all. But an old fairy had been 
omitted from the invitation list. Piqued at this, she came 
just at the moment when all the rest had endowed the child 
with their gifts, and she revenged herself by rendering useless 
all the talents the child had received from the other fairies, 
not one of which was he able to make use of. It must be ad- 
mitted that on the whole this is a speaking portrait." 

The bad fairy was no myth, for the Abbe Dubois was the 
evil genius who wrecked the talents of the Due de Chartres. 
" Dubois led him into debauchery, made him despise all duty 
and decency, and persuaded him that he had too much 
mind to be the dupe of religion, which he said was a politic 
invention to frighten ordinary intellects and keep people in 
subjection. He filled him, too, with his favorite principle, 
that probity in man and virtue in woman were mere chimeras, 

21 321 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

without existence in anybody except in a few poor slaves of 
early training. . . . Unfortunately all conspired in M. le 
Due de Chartres to open his heart and mind to this execrable 
poison : a fresh and early youth, much strength and health, 
joy at escaping from the yoke, as well as vexation at his mar- 
riage, the wearisomeness produced by idleness, the impulse of 
his passions, and the example of other young men, whose 
vanity and whose interest it was to make him live like them. 
Thus he grew accustomed to debauchery, above all to the up- 
roar of it, so that he could not do without it, and could only 
divert himself by dint of noise, tumult, and excess. . . . 
With all his talents, he was totally without honest resources 
for amusing himself. He was born bored, and was so accus- 
tomed to live out of himself that it was insufferable to him to 
return. He could only live in the midst of the movement 
and torrent of business — at the head of an army, for in- 
stance, or in the cares that arose out of the execution of cam- 
paign projects, or in the excitement and uproar of debauchery. 
He began to languish as soon as he was without noise, excess, 
and tumult, the time hanging painfully upon his hands. . . . 
He was of mediocre stature, full-bodied without being fat; 
his manner and deportment were easy and noble ; his face was 
broad and very agreeable, high in color ; his hair black, and 
wig the same. . . . With much ease when nothing con- 
strained him, he was gentle, affable, open, of facile and 
charming access ; the tone of his voice was agreeable, and he 
had a surprisingly easy flow of words upon all subjects, which 
nothing ever disturbed and which never failed to sur- 
prise. , . . To hear him, you would have thought him a 
great reader. Not so. He skimmed, but his memory was so 
singular that he never forgot things, names, or dates, cher- 
ishing remembrance of things with precision ; and his appre- 
hension was so good that in skimming thus it was with him 
precisely as though he had read very laboriously. He had no 

322 



The Due and Duehesse de Chartres 

presumption, no trace of superiority natural or acquired; he 
reasoned with you as his equal, and struck the most able with 
surprise. He never forgot his own position, or allowed others 
to forget it, but he carried no constraint with him, put 
everybody at ease, and placed himself upon the level of all 
others. . . . Although we often spoke upon religion, to 
which I tried to lead him so long as I had hope of success, I 
never could unravel the system he had formed for himself, 
and I ended by becoming persuaded that he wavered un- 
ceasingly without forming any religion at all. His passionate 
desire, like that of his companions in morals, was this, that it 
would turn out that there is no God; but he had too much 
enlightenment to be an atheist, who is a particular kind of 
fool much more rare than is thought. This enlightenment 
importuned him ; he tried to extinguish it and could not. A 
mortal soul would have been to him a resource, but he could 
not convince himself of its existence. A God and an immortal 
soul threw him into sad straits, and yet he could not blind 
himself to the truth of both the one and the other. I can say 
then this, I know of what religion he was not ; nothing more. 
I am sure, however, that he was very ill at ease upon this 
point, and that if a dangerous illness had overtaken him, and 
he had had the time, he would have thrown himself into the 
hands of all the priests and all the Capuchins of the town." ^ 

In 1692, the Due de Chartres, much to the disgust of his 
mother, was married to Mile, de Blois, daughter of the king 
and Madame de Montespan. In 1701, at the death of his 
father, he became Due d' Orleans. The splendid establish- 
ment which the king gave him at that time has already been 
mentioned. His profligacy turned the king and Madame de 
Maintenon against him, before he had held his new title many 
months, and a few years later a witty toast in ridicule of 
Madame de Maintenon, which he gave at a supper when with 

^ Saint-Simon, II, pp. 334-337- 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

the army in Spain, finished the business. From that moment 
Madame de Maintenon was his implacable enemy, and as 
long as the king lived, the Due d'Orleans felt the weight of 
her hand. He made no attempt at reconciliation on his re- 
turn, and soon found himself in disgrace. The king treated 
him very coldly, and the courtiers, following the king's ex- 
ample, withdrew from him. He was abandoned. In 1710, 
the Due de Saint-Simon, the one firm and true friend of this 
brilliant but weak prince, stepped in to endeavor to reinstate 
him, if possible, with the king and Madame de Maintenon. 

" I had long seen," he says, " that the only way in which M. 
d'Orleans could hope to recover his position would be to give 
up his mistress, Madame d'Argenton, with whom he had 
been on terms of intimacy for many years past, to the know- 
ledge and scandal of all the world. I knew it would be a bold 
and dangerous game to play, to try to persuade him to sepa- 
rate himself from a woman he had known and loved so long, 
but I determined to engage in it, nevertheless, and I looked 
about for some one to assist me in this enterprise. At once I 
cast my eyes upon the Marechal de Besons, who for many 
years had been the bosom friend of M. d'Orleans. He ap- 
plauded the undertaking, but doubted, he said, its success; 
nevertheless, he promised to aid me to the utmost of his 
power, and, as it will be seen, was as good as his word. . . . 
At the commencement of 1710, I spoke to M. d'Orleans. I 
began by extracting from him an admission of the neglect 
into which he had fallen; the dislike of the king, the hatred 
of Monseigneur, who accused him of wishing to replace his 
son in Spain, the hatred of Madame de Maintenon, whom he 
had offended by his bon-mot, the suspicions of the public, who 
talked of his chemical experiments; and then, throwing off 
all fear of consequences, I said that before he could hope to 
draw back his friends and the world to him, he must rein- 
state himself in the favor of the king. He appeared struck 
with what I had said, rose after a profound silence, paced to 

324 



The Due and Duehesse de Chartres 

and fro, and then asked, ' But how ? ' Seeing the opportunity 
so good, I repHed in a firm and significant tone, ' How ? I 
know well enough, but I will never tell you ; and yet it is the 
only thing to do.' * Ah, I understand you,' he exclaimed, as 
though struck by a thunderbolt ; * I understand you perfectly ' ; 
and he threw himself upon a chair at the end of the room. I 
broke the silence at last by saying that the state which he was 
in had touched me to the quick, and that I had determined, in 
conjunction with the Marechal de Besons, to speak to him 
upon the subject, and to propose the only means by which he 
could hope to bring about a change in his position. When 
I thought I had gone far enough for the time, I left him, 
evidently affected by what I had said." 

On the following day the Due de Saint-Simon and Mare- 
chal de Besons had a long interview with the Due d'Orleans, 
the upshot of which was that the duke finally agreed to give 
up Madame d'Argenton; and having agreed, before his 
courage failed him, he sent a lackey at once to Madame de 
Maintenon to ask for an audience. Madame de Maintenon 
was very much surprised when M. d'Orleans informed her of 
his resolution, but appeared delighted and assured him that it 
would put him on better terms than ever with the king. M. 
d'Orleans had then an audience with the king, who appeared 
greatly surprised, and spoke coldly; his coldness was due in 
part to his astonishment. In the end, the step taken by the 
Due d'Orleans improved his position with the king, but 
Madame de Maintenon, though apparently more friendly, 
remained implacable. The king's death changed everything. 
Madame de Maintenon passed into retirement at St. Cyr, 
and M. d'Orleans became Regent of France. 

THE DUCHESSE DE CHARTRES 

Mlle. de Blois^ daughter of the king and Madame de Mon- 
tespan, became Duehesse de Chartres in 1692, and Duehesse 
d'Orleans in 1701. " She was tall and in every way ma- 

325 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

jestic. Her complexion, her arms, her throat, were admira- 
ble; she had a tolerable mouth, with beautiful teeth, some- 
what long; and cheeks too broad and too hanging, which 
interfered with, but did not spoil, her beauty. What disfig- 
ured her most were her eyebrows, which were, as it were, 
peeled and red, with very little hair; she had, however, fine 
eyelashes, and well-set, chestnut-colored hair. Without being 
humpbacked or deformed, she had one side larger than the 
other, and walked awry. She had a good deal of intellect 
and spoke with much ability. Her utterance, however, was 
slow and embarrassed, so that unaccustomed ears followed 
her with difficulty. Every kind of decency and decorum 
centered themselves in her, and the most exquisite pride was 
there upon its throne. Astonishment will be felt at what I 
am going to say, and yet nothing is more strictly true; it is 
that at the bottom of her soul she believed that she, the bastard 
of the king, had much honored the Due d'Orleans in marry- 
ing him ! The Due d'Orleans often laughed at her pride, and 
called her * Madame Lucifer ' in speaking to her, and she ad- 
mitted that the name did not displease her. She always re- 
ceived his advances with coldness and a sort of superiority of 
greatness. She was a princess to the backbone, at all hours 
and in all places. Yet, at the same time, her timidity was 
extreme. The king could have made her feel ill with a single 
severe look." ^ 

Madame has drawn a portrait of the Duchesse de Chartres, 
her most unwelcome daughter-in-law. " In my opinion," 
says she, " my son's wife has no charms at all. I don't know 
whether my son loves her much, but I know she does what she 
pleases with him. . . . She paints beyond all measure, so that 
she is often quite red. She is often ill, and always has a 
fictitious malady in reserve. I believe that all her indispo- 
sitions and weaknesses come because she always lies in bed or 

^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 237- 
326 




1 








Mademoiselle de Blois 
Duchesse de Chartres and Duchesse d'Orleans 




1 



The Due and Duehesse de Chartres 

on a sofa; she eats and drinks reclining, through mere idle- 
ness. . . . She is so indolent that she will not stir ; she would 
like larks ready roasted to drop into her mouth. She is so 
vain that she thinks she has more sense than her husband, who 
has a great deal." ^ 

The Due and Duehesse de Chartres lived with Monsieur 
and Madame at St. Cloud or in Paris at the Palais Royal. 
At Versailles they had apartments in the south wing of the 
chateau. 

^ Memoirs of the Duehesse d'Orleans, p. 175. 



327 



VIII 
THE KING'S CHILDREN 

THE children the king had had by his mistresses 
were a source of continual difficulty at court. 
Louis never neglected any of his children; they 
might be illegitimate, but he never on that account 
failed in his responsibility toward them as a father and a king. 
By the Duchesse de la Valliere, he had had the Comte de Ver- 
mandois and Mile, de Blois ; by Madame de Montespan, eight 
children, four of whom died rather young, leaving the Due du 
Maine, Mile, de Nantes, a second Mile, de Blois, and the 
Comte de Toulouse. The Comte de Vermandois died in 
1683. The king had then three daughters and two sons to 
provide for. He declared them legitimate, married his 
daughters to princes of the blood, and loaded his sons with 
honors; but these things were not accomplished without 
scandal and hubbub. 

The first Mile, de Blois, daughter of La Valliere, was mar- 
ried to Louis-Armand I, Prince de Conti, and ere long was 
left a widow. At Versailles she was called La Grande Prin- 
cesse de Conti, on account of her beauty and height. " She 
was the one of the king's illegitimate daughters whom he 
loved most," says the Palatine. " She was by far the most 
polite and well bred." Monseigneur liked her also. " When 
he was not at the chase, Monseigneur passed his time with the 
Princesse de Conti." In addition to her apartments in the 
chateau, the Princesse de Conti had her town house in Ver- 

328 



The King's Children 



sailles, the Hotel de Conti, to-day the town-hall of Versailles, 
where she gave many fetes, especially to the Due and Duch- 
esse de Bourgogne. She disliked her half-sisters, daughters 
of Madame de Montespan, and they, in their turn, disliked 
her. 

Mile, de Nantes, eldest daughter of Madame de Montespan, 
was married to Louis de Bourbon, son of the Prince de Conde. 
He was Due de Bourbon; called, for short Monsieur le Due, 
and she, Mme. la Duchesse. " She is not prettier than her 
daughters," says the Palatine, " but she has more grace. Her 
manners are more fascinating and agreeable. Her wit shines 
in her eyes, but there is some malignity in them also. I al- 
ways say she is like a very pretty cat, which, while you play 
with it, lets you feel its claws. No person has a better car- 
riage of the head. It is impossible to dance better than the 
duchess and her daughters can, but the mother dances best. 
I do not know how it is, but even her lameness is becoming to 
her. She has a talent of saying things in so pleasant a man- 
ner that one cannot help laughing. If she were not so 
treacherous, one might say truly that nobody is more amiable. 
But there is nothing certain about her; although her sense 
is good, her heart is not." ^ 

The second Mile, de Blois, daughter of Madame de Montes- 
pan, was married, as has already been said, to the king's 
nephew, Philippe, Due de Chartres. 

The sisters were not on good terms. " Monsieur wished 
that the Duchesse de Chartres should always call the others 
' sister,' but that they should never address her except as 
' Madame.' The Princesse de Conti submitted to this, but 
Mme. la Duchesse set herself to call the Duchesse de Chartres 
' mignonne.' But nothing was less mignonne than her face 
and figure ; and Monsieur, feeling the ridicule for his daugh- 
ter-in-law, complained to the king. The king prohibited 
^ Memoirs of Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans, p. 257. 



329 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

very severely this familiarity. . . . While at Trianon, the 
princesses took it into their heads to walk out at night and 
divert themselves with crackers. Either from malice or im- 
prudence, they let off some one night under the windows of 
Monsieur, rousing him thereby out of his sleep. He was so 
displeased that he complained to the king, who made him 
many excuses and scolded the princesses. Monsieur's anger 
lasted a long time, and the Duchesse de Chartres felt it. I do 
not know if the other two were very sorry. Mme. la Duchesse 
was accused of writing some songs upon the Duchesse de 
Chartres. . . . One summer the king took to going very 
often in the evening to Trianon, and gave permission once 
for all to all the court to follow him. There was a grand 
collation for the princesses, his daughters, who took their 
friends there, and indeed all the women went to it if they 
pleased. One day the Duchesse de Gesvres took it into her 
head to go to Trianon and partake of this meal. Her age, 
her rarity at court, her dress, and her face provoked the 
princesses to make fun of her in whispers with their fair vis- 
itors. She perceived this, and, without being embarrassed, 
took them up so sharply that they were silenced and looked 
down. But this was not all ; after the collation she began to 
talk so freely and yet so humorously about them that they 
were frightened, and went and made their excuses, and very 
frankly asked for quarter. Madame de Gesvres was good 
enough to grant them this, but said it was only on condition 
that they learned how to behave. ... At Marly one evening 
after the king had gone to bed, and while Monseigneur was 
playing cards in the salon, the Duchesse de Chartres and 
Mme. la Duchesse, who were bound together by their mutual 
aversion for the Princesse de Conti, sat down to a supper in 
the chamber of the first-named. Monseigneur, upon retiring 
late to his own room, found them smoking pipes, which they 
had sent for from the Swiss Guards ! Knowing what would 

330 




Mademoiselle de Blois, La Grande Princesse de Conti 



The King's Children 



happen if the smell were discovered, he made them leave off, 
iDut the smoke had betrayed them. Next day the king scolded 
them severely, at which the Princesse de Conti triumphed. 
Nevertheless, these broils multiplied, and the king at last 
grew so weary of them that one evening he called the prin- 
cesses before him, and said that if they did not improve he 
would banish them all from court. This measure had its 
effect ; calm and decorum returned, and supplied the place of 
friendship." ^ 

The Due du Maine, eldest son of the king and Madame de 
Montespan, was always a favorite with Madame de Mainte- 
non, who had been his governess from his birth. He was 
probably not as black as Saint-Simon has painted him; but 
with the army he was a craven, and showed the white feather 
in disgraceful fashion, and at court he was a tale-bearer and 
a sneak. He was devoured by ambition, and in the king's old 
age he joined hands with Madame de Maintenon in forcing a 
will from the king, appointing him the guardian of the heir 
to the throne, by which he hoped to weaken the power of the 
Due d'Orleans as regent — in fact, to control the government 
himself. 

" The unfortunate state in which the king was left after 
the death of the Duchesse de Bourgogne," says Saint-Simon, 
" made him seek relief everywhere, in abandoning himself 
more and more to Madame de Maintenon and M. du Maine. 
They soon managed to obtain possession of him, leaving no 
art unexhausted in order to flatter, to please, and to interest 
him. He was made to believe that M. du Maine was utterly 
without ambition; like a good father of a family, solely oc- 
cupied with his children, touched with the grandeur of his 
nearness to the king, simple, frank, upright, and one who 
after working at his duties all day, and giving himself time 
for prayer and piety, amused himself in hunting, and drew 

^ Saint-Simon, I, p. 83. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

upon his natural gaiety and cheerfulness, without knowing 
anything of the court, or of what was passing ! Compare this 
portrait with his real character, and we shall feel with terror 
what a rattlesnake was introduced into the king's privacy. 
Everything smiled upon the project of M. du Maine and 
Madame de Maintenon. They had rendered M. d'Orleans 
odious in the eyes of the king by the most execrable calumnies. 
M. du Maine wished not only to be made prince of the blood,, 
but to be made guardian of the heir to the throne, so as to 
dwarf the power of the regent as much as possible. He 
wished, in fact, to take from M. d'Orleans everything except 
the name of regent, and to divide all power between himself 
and the Comte de Toulouse. But Madame de Maintenon 
and M. du Maine had tough work before they obtained this 
success. They found that the king would not consent to 
their wishes without much opposition. They hit upon a devil- 
ish plan to overpower his resistance. Hitherto, they had only 
been occupied in pleasing him, in praising him, in anticipating 
his wishes. Not being able to lead him as they wished, they 
determined to do so at all cost, and they adopted another sys- 
tem. Both became serious, oftentimes dejected, silent, fur- 
nishing nothing to the conversation, letting pass what the 
king forced himself to say, sometimes not even replying, if it 
was not a direct interrogation. In this manner all the leisure 
hours of the king were rendered dull and empty. . . . The 
few ladies who were admitted to the intimacy of the king 
knew not what to make of the change they saw in Madame de 
Maintenon. They were duped at first by the plea of illness ; 
but seeing at last that its duration passed all bounds, that it 
had no intermission, that her face announced no malady, that 
her daily life was in no way deranged, and that the king be- 
came as serious and sad as she, they sounded each other to find 
out the cause. Fear lest it should be something in which they, 
unknowingly, were concerned, troubled them; so that they 

332 



The King's Children 



became even worse company to the king than Madame de 
Maintenon. There was no relief for the king. All his re- 
source was in the commonplace talk of the Comte de Tou- 
louse, who was not amusing, although ignorant of the plot, 
and the stories of his valets, who lost tongue as soon as they 
perceived that they were not seconded by the Due du Maine in 
his usual manner. . . . Time ran on, and the dejection of M. 
du Maine and Madame de Maintenon increased. This is as 
far as the most instructed have ever been able to penetrate. 
To describe the interior scenes that doubtless passed during 
the long time this state of things lasted, would be to write 
romance. Truth demands that we should relate what we 
know, and admit what we are ignorant of. What is certain 
is that cheerfulness came back all at once, with the same sur- 
prise to the witnesses of it as the long dejection had caused 
them, simply because they understood no more of the end 
than of the commencement. But to give some idea of the op- 
position from the king that M. du Maine and Madame de 
Maintenon had to overcome, and to show how reluctantly he 
consented to their wishes, more than one incident may be 
brought forward. Some days before the news transpired, 
the king, full of the enormity of what he had just done for 
liis bastards, looked at them in his cabinet, in the presence of 
the valets and of D'Antin and D'O, and in a sharp manner 
that told of vexation, and with a severe glance, suddenly ad- 
dressed himself to M. du Maine: 'You have wished it; but 
know that, however great I may make you, and you may be 
in my lifetime, you are nothing after me. It will be for you 
then to avail yourself of what I have done for you, if you 
•can.' Everybody present trembled at a thunderclap so sud- 
den, so little expected, so entirely removed from the character 
and custom of the king, and which showed so clearly the ex- 
treme ambition of the Due du Maine, and the violence he had 
done to the weakness of the king, who seemed to reproach 



333 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

himself for it and to reproach the bastard for his ambitioa 
and tyranny. The consternation of M. du Maine seemed 
extreme at this rough sally, which no previous remark had 
led to. The king had made a clean breast of it. Everybody" 
fixed his eyes upon the floor, and held his breath. The si- 
lence was profound; it finished only when the king passed 
into the other cabinet. . . . On Sunday, the 27th of August 
(1714), the chief-president and the attorney-general were 
sent for by the king. He was at Versailles. As soon as they 
were alone with him, he took from a drawer, which he un- 
locked, a large and thick packet, sealed with seven seals. In 
handing it to them, the king said : ' Gentlemen, this is my 
will. No one but myself knows its contents. I commit it to- 
you to keep in the Parliament, to which I cannot give a 
greater testimony of my esteem and confidence than by ren- 
dering it the depository of this document. The example of 
the kings, my predecessors, and that of the will of the king,, 
my father, do not allow me to be ignorant of what may be- 
come of this. But they would have it ; they have tormented 
me; they have left me no repose, whatever I might say.. 
Very well ! I have bought my repose. Here is the will ; 
take it away ; come what may of it, at least I shall have rest,, 
and shall hear no more about it.' At the last word, he fin- 
ished with a dry nod, turned his back upon them, passed into- 
another cabinet, and left them both nearly turned to statues. 
They looked at each other, frozen by what they had just 
heard, and still more by what they had just seen in the eyes 
and countenance of the king; and as soon as they had col- 
lected their senses, they retired and went to Paris." * 

The scheme of the Due du Maine, however, failed com- 
pletely after the king's death. Parliament set aside the dis- 
positions of the will of Louis XIV in favor of his bastard, 
and the Due d'Orleans assumed full control. When the news- 
* Saint-Simon, II, pp. 303-307- 

334 




BH ,.crmi„:on of Brai.n, CUmM f Co. 



Anne Louise Benedicte de Bourbon. Duchesse du Maine 



The King's Children 



reached Madame de Maintenon at St. Cyr, the failure of her 
hopes threw her into a fever. M. du Maine had married, in 
1692, one of the daughters of the Prince de Conde. They 
lived at Sceaux, and M. du Maine died there in 1736. 

Modest, upright, and brave, the Comte de Toulouse, second 
son of the king and Madame de Montespan, was the best of 
Louis's children. He served with ability in the navy, and in 
September, 1704, won the battle of Malaga against the Eng- 
lish fleet, commanded by Admiral Rooke. The king loaded 
him with honors, but no one seems to have found fault. He 
was admiral, grand huntsman of France, lieutenant-general, 
and governor of Brittany. His modesty and courtesy made 
him many friends and few enemies. 

The Comte de Toulouse married the widow of M. de 
Gondrin, and the marriage was a happy one. The life that 
they lived at Rambouillet, amid the scandals of the regency, 
was virtuous and dignified. M. de Toulouse died in 1737, 
leaving behind him a creditable record. 



335 



IX 
THE NOBILITY 

IN referring to some ceremony or fete at the court, the 
expression is frequently used by Saint-Simon and 
others, " All France was there." There was less exag- 
geration in the phrase than might at first appear. Very 
few people of distinction were absent, and if absent, they 
made haste to return. If they were persons of quality, if 
they wished to maintain their standing, if they had sons and 
daughters to marry and settle in life, if they desired for them- 
selves and for their children some portion of this world's 
goods, they found it necessary to reside at court. If they at- 
tempted to remain in their chateaux in the provinces, they lost 
caste, they had no society save that of village rustics, their 
sons had no careers, their daughters no chances to marry well, 
they were rated as being too poor to go to court, or as having 
incurred the displeasure of the king. Afar the stream of 
glittering life flowed on, but they stuck in a stagnant pool; 
and when from the depths of their stagnation they sent some 
soft-voiced messenger to plead their cause, his spine was 
chilled by the icy answer of the royal lips, " I do not know 
them. They are people I never see." Under such circum- 
stances, those who had the chance to choose did not hesitate 
to quit the noblesse de province for the noblesse de cour. 
Versailles ! All roads led to it. In the great chateau, as in a 
reservoir, were riches and honors and all rank. 

The policy begun by Louis in 1661 was well established 

336 



The Nobility 

and had borne fruit by the time Versailles became the seat 
of government. Throughout France there was not a single 
estate of any size the proprietor of which was not at court. 
The new hotels of the nobility lined the streets near the royal 
palace, and their owners filled its salons and formed each day 
a cortege for the king. The fathers of these men had fought 
Richelieu; their ancestors had flung their banners to the 
breeze and marched in mail to battle with a King of France 
who was little more than King of Paris. But now, after the 
struggle of centuries, the monarchy had come to its own at 
last. Each morning when the king went to mass, an ob- 
sequious nobility awaited him in the gallery of Versailles. 
They were all there; all, at least, whose purses were' 
not empty. " Sire," said M. de Vardes to Louis XIV, 
*' away from Your Majesty, one is not only miserable but 
ridiculous." — 

But such concentration imposed a heavy load upon the 
sovereign ; it was the price he had to pay for his absolutism. 
As Taine has well said, " A nobility for useful purposes is not 
transformed with impunity into a nobility for ornament. . . . 
To be the master of a house is not an easy task, especially 
when several thousand persons are to be entertained. . . . 
The king is expected to keep the entire aristocracy busy, con- 
sequently to make a display of himself, to pay back with his 
own person at all hours. It is the life of an actor who is on 
the stage the entire day." ^ 

The nobility had their price to pay. The cost of living at / 
court ate up their incomes; their continued absence from 
their estates made their revenues diminish, left their chateaux 
neglected, and much of their land uncultivated; high play 
plunged them into debt. A few years brought the inevitable, 
and they became dependent on the royal bounty. When they 
looked for support to the salaries attached to their posts at 
^ Taine, The Ancient Regime, p. 104. 

"" 337 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

court, and to the king's pensions, the last traces of their inde- 
pendence vanished. 

They numbered in all some 160,000 persons, some 25,000 
or 30,000 noble families in a nation of 25,000,000 people, 
upon whom they looked haughtily and indifferently, by whom 
they were disliked, and from whom they still demanded feudal 
tribute though they themselves had ceased to render feudal 
service. Thus they took something and gave nothing in re- 
turn, an evil which in succeeding generations would bring 
catastrophe. But the day of ruin was distant and undreamed 
of. Absorbed in the etiquette and intrigues of Versailles, 
the noblesse de cour had neither time nor inclination to think 
of anything else. State affairs were not for them, but for the 
monarch and his ministers, in councils from which they were 
excluded. With the establishments they had to maintain, 
their valets and lackeys, their equipages, their costumes, their 
high play, they were always in debt, and the poverty in the 
provinces affected them in so far only as it reduced their 
incomes. They very rarely came in contact with the peasants 
on their estates, and had therefore little personal interest in 
them. Had they resided on their estates, they would prob- 
ably have taken a different attitude, but as it was, whenever 
they received unpleasant reports from their intendants, the 
poverty was distant and disagreeable. Duties at Versailles, 
on the other hand, were real and pressing. Qne was hoping 
to get the post of gentleman usher to the Due de Bourgogne, 
but Madame de Maintenon had never smiled on him, and so 
he was hurrying hither and thither to find some person with 
influence enough to win her over; another was all upset be- 
cause somebody had taken precedence of her at the king's 
supper, and was trying to make her husband complain to the 
king ; a third was wondering if he would get the royal candle- 
stick at the coucher; a fourth was bound to have the position 
of lady of honor to one of the princesses, and was raising 

338 




Henri de Latour d'Auvergne, Marechal de Turenne 



The Nobility 

heaven and earth to spite a fifth who had set her cap for the 
same post. There were hundreds of others busy about just 
such matters, and all these things were vital. Versailles pro- 
duced its type, the grand seigneur, " polished but hard as 
marble." He was master of his features and his emotions; 
he smiled alike on friends and enemies; he concealed his 
thoughts and disguised his passions ; he knew when to speak 
and when to sigh and when to be silent ; he was alert and on 
his guard ; he had wit and charm ; his pose and manners were 
perfect; he measured men to the fraction of an inch and ap- 
peared only with those from whom something was to be 
gained. But, above all, he had the court air. " The court 
air is contagious," says La Bruyere. " It pervades Versailles 
as the Norman accent pervades Rouen or Falaise. It appears 
in the lackeys, in the grooms of the Stables, in the people of 
the Fruit-loft." 

At the head of the nobility came the princes of the blood. 
Henri Jules de Bourbon, Prince de Conde, called for short 
M. le Prince, had the prestige of his father, the Great Conde, 
and a splendid establishment at Chantilly; but M. le Prince 
himself, though not without ability, was choleric and eccen- 
tric to the last degree, and was thoroughly disliked by every- 
body. His son, M. le Due de Bourbon, was no better ; " a 
marvelously little man, short, without being fat, of a livid 
yellow, nearly always looked furious, and was so proud, and 
so audacious, that it was difficult to get used to him." ^ Al- 
though the king had married his daughter. Mile, de Nantes, 
to M. le Due, His Majesty could endure neither the son nor 
the father. M. le Prince de Conti, on the other hand, was 
popular. " He endeavored to please the cobbler, the lackey, the 
porter, as well as the minister of state, the grand seigneur, 
the general, and all so naturally that success was certain. He 
was consequently the constant delight of every one." ^ 
* Saint-Simon, II, p. 120. " Idem, II, p. ty. 

339 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

A fine example of the best type of grand seigneur was the 
Due de Beauvilliers, governor of the Enfants de France. 
The Due de la Rochefoucauld, grand huntsman of France, 
never missing the king's lever or coucher for ten years in 
succession, was the perfect courtier. The Due de Lauzun 
had a sharp tongue, and his whole life was filled with sur- 
prising adventures. The Due de Gesvres was a malicious old 
man, who had sprung from almost nothing and was not 
ashamed of it. The Marechal Due de Villeroi, who entered 
always with his grand air and his " accustomed hubbub," was 
" full of wind, lightness, and frivolity." ^ The Duchesse de 
Nemours, who was extremely rich, had a " droll way of 
dressing, big eyes, a shoulder that twitched constantly, gray 
hairs which she wore flowing, and an imposing air." ^ The 
haughty Due de Vendome was a bad general and a base prof- 
ligate. The Bishop of Orleans was a man " whose face spoke 
at once of the virtue and benignity he possessed. Young 
and old were afraid to say a foul word in his presence." ^ 
The Due d'Elboeuf was a good courtier, but deplored the ad- 
vancement of the king's illegitimate children. The Due de 
Luxembourg was brilliant in battle, but out of it was " idle- 
ness itself." The Marechal de Boufilers was brave, virtuous, 
and magnificent in hospitality. The Chevalier de Coislin 
was a cynic, who went out of his way to avoid meeting the 
king. The Comtesse de Mailly had wit, but could never over- 
come her "provincial awkwardness." The handsome and 
sprightly Marechale de Rochefort was " full of worldly 
cleverness, but with little cleverness of any other kind." ^ M. 
de Villars, " one of the best-made men in France," had a repu- 
tation for courage and skill. The Cardinal de Bouillon was 
full of pride and pretension. M. de Duras had put himself 
on such a footing that he said anything he pleased. M. de 

^ Saint-Simon, III, p. 227. ' Idem, I, p. 81. 

^ Idem, I, p. 379. * Idem, I, p. 18. 



The Nobility 

Puysieux, for some time ambassador to Switzerland, " a little 
fat man and very agreeable," was " the best fellow in the 
world." ^ The Prince d'Harcourt " looked like a nobleman, 
but reminded one at thf same time of a country actor." ^ 
The Comtesse de Fiesque was full of odd fancies, passed her 
life with the most frivolous, " frittering away all her sub- 
stance, and allowing herself to be pillaged by her business 
people." Harlay, Chief-President of Parliament, was a 
"perfect hypocrite; affecting a bending attitude, shaving 
along the walls to make people make way for him with 
greater noise, and working his way at Versailles by a series 
of respectful and, as it were, shamefaced bows to the right 
and left." ^ M. de Langlee had made himself such a " master 
of fashions and fetes that none of the latter were given, even 
by the princes of the blood, except under his directions." 
The Comtesse de La Marck was "tall, stout, and coarse- 
featured as a Swiss guard in woman's clothes; bold, auda- 
cious, talking loudly and always with authority; polished, 
however, and of good manners when she pleased; the most 
imperious woman in the world." * 

Such were a few of the thousands who trod the pavement 
of the court, who waited in the gallery, in the morning, to 
accompany the king to mass, who promenaded in the park, 
who plotted in the antechambers. They would long ago 
have been forgotten, and all traces of them would have van- 
ished, but for the surpassing talent of one man. Louis de 
Rouvroy, Due de Saint-Simon, rescued them from oblivion. 

THE DUC DE SAINT-SIMON 

Louis de Saint-Simon, only child of Claude, Due de Saint- 
Simon, by his second wife, Charlotte de I'Aubespine, was 
born on the 15th of January, 1675, ^"^ ^'^t^^ the death of his 

^ Saint-Simon, I, p. 315. * Idem, I, p. 44. 

^Idem, I, p. 254. *Idem, I, p. 160. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

father bore the name of Vidame de Chartres. In 1691 he 
was presented for the first time to the king. " My father 
took me to Versailles, where he had not been for many years, 
and begged of the king admission for me into the Musketeers. 
It was on the day of St. Simon and St. Jude, at half-past 
twelve, and just as His Majesty came out of the council. 
The king did my father the honor of embracing him three 
times, and then turned toward me. Finding that I was little 
and of delicate appearance, he said I was still very young; 
to v/hich my father replied that I should be able in conse- 
quence to serve longer." ^ 

But Saint-Simon did not serve long. He was brave 
enough, and at Neerwinden he led five cavalry charges ; but 
army life was not to his taste, and because he did not receive 
the promotion to which he thought his ducal rank entitled 
him, he resigned his commission. " Well, monsieur, here is 
another man who quits us," said the king to Chamillart. 
Louis was piqued. The first time that the young duke ap- 
peared at Versailles after this episode, the king overwhelmed 
him by a single act of politeness. He heard himself named 
at the coucher to hold the royal candlestick. After that the 
king neither spoke to him nor looked at him for two years. 
Saint-Simon married a daughter of the Marechal de Lorges. 
She was a woman of fine character and much good sense, and 
her tact, together with the duke's scheming, brought him 
again into some appearance of favor. 

The chief aim of Saint-Simon's existence was to advance 
the power of the dukes. To him the ducal dignity was the 
one thing, and the only thing, of importance in the state, and 
in attempting to advance the ducal order, Saint-Simon 
clashed continually with the Grand Monarch. " Since you 
left my service," said the king, coldly, in one interview, " you 
think of nothing but studying ranks and bringing actions 

^ Saint-Simon, I, p. 3. 




By permission of Braun, Clfvunt ./■ Co. 

Louis de Rouvroy, Due de Saint-Simon, at the Age of Fourteen 



The Nobility 

against all the world. If I were wise, I would send you so 
far off that you would not worry me for a long time." Saint- 
Simon had the courage of his convictions, and did not wilt 
even before this blast. He continued his intrigues in behalf 
of the dukes, and his political caliber may be measured by the 
attitude he took at the king's death. " I went to the Due 
d'Orleans, whom I found shut in, but all his apartments so 
full that a pin could not have fallen to the ground. I talked 
of the Convocation of the States-General, and reminded him 
of a promise he had given me that he would allow the dukes 
to keep their hats on when their votes were taken. All I 
could obtain from him was another promise that when public 
affairs of pressing moment awaiting attention were disposed 
of, we should have all we required." ^ At such a time, the 
right of the dukes to wear their hats on a particular occasion 
was the main thing in Saint-Simon's mind. 

However, it is not as a political man that Saint-Simon is 
interesting, but as biographer and historian of the court. In 
that capacity he stands without a peer. He spared no one, 
not even himself ; he was vindictive, but he was always bril- 
liant. With his marvelous grasp of detail, nothing escaped 
him, while his lofty intelligence and all-seeing eye revealed 
the motives of men. One can fancy with what astonishment 
the Grand Monarch would have received the information 
that he and his court would be best known to future gener- 
ations through the genius of a busybody, who spent his time 
quibbling about ducal rights. 

^ Saint-Simon, III, p. 32, 



343 



X 

MECHANISM OF THE COURT LIFE 

THE court of Versailles was no longer that of St. 
Germain, coming from time to time to glitter at 
Versailles in tilts and fetes in honor of La Val- 
liere or Montespan. Since 1682 Versailles had be- 
come the seat of government, the royal house, headquarters 
of pomp, and home of majesty. Beside Louis the Mag- 
nificent appeared Maintenon the Sanctimonious, and behind 
them, erect, rigid, like a man at arms, stood Etiquette, im- 
movable, absolute, supreme. For the new Versailles they 
were the new Trinity, by whom all things were done, with- 
out whom nothing could be done. The new court had in- 
creased in numbers, had gained in luxury, and moved in 
prodigious splendor, but its life was rigorous, monotonous, 
and fatiguing. 

The occupations and pleasures of the royal family and of 
the courtiers changed three times a year, dividing the year 
into three periods, the winter and the carnival, Lent, spring 
and summer. 

In winter they had the appartement, comedy, concerts, 
balls, play (gambling), and masquerades; during the carnival 
the number of balls and masquerades was doubled. The 
appartements, that is to say, the evening receptions of the 
king, were held every week, from the beginning of October 
until Palm Sunday. As a rule, the evenings of each week 
during the winter were regulated as follows: on Sunday^ 

344 



Mechanism of the Court Life 



appartement; on Monday, comedy; on Tuesday, nothing; 
on Wednesday, appartement ; on Thursday, comedy, and so 
on, every third evening being free. When snow fell, there 
were promenades in sledges in the park or on the grand canal. 
Almost every day came the chase, the stag-hunts of the king, 
the wolf-hunts of Monseigneur, or of the Due de Berry, in 
the forest of St. Germain, in the woods of Meudon, in the 
woods of Versailles; or the shooting parties in the parks of 
Versailles and Marly. Only such severe cold as that of the 
terrible winter of 1709 could stop the hunt. 

In summer there were promenades in gondolas with music 
on the canal, promenades in the Orangery, promenades in the 
gardens, on foot, on horse, and in carriages, collations and 
concerts at Trianon or at the Menagerie, visits to the Stables 
to see equerries mount new horses, and, as always, the chase 
— the stag-hunt or the shooting party. 

At fixed epochs came the journeys (les voyages) to Com- 
piegne and Fontainebleau : Compiegne, in the spring; Fon- 
tainebleau, in the autumn. The diversions there were the 
same as at Versailles, the chase, the promenade, comedy, con- 
certs, balls, play ; but in addition, at Fontainebleau the court 
watched games of tennis and mall, hunted the stag in the 
toils, and rode to Franchart, where they dined. At Com- 
piegne there were frequently camps and reviews of the army. 
Journeys to Marly occurred at all seasons, and there, with 
fewer people and less etiquette, they had comedy, concerts, 
balls, chase, and play. 

At fixed epochs, also, came the religious fetes, the proces- 
sion of Corpus Christi, the jubilee. Holy Week, and, from 
time to time, periods of mourning to break the regular train 
of the court life. Grand ceremonies, receptions of ambassa- 
dors, of flags taken from the enemy, ceremonies of the Order 
of St. Esprit and the admission of new knights, royal mar- 
riages and marriage-fetes, set in motion all vanities and 



345 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

caused continual disputes and difficulties as to precedence, 
rank, and place. 

Daily and in all seasons, there were the lever and coucher 
of the king, the mass, the dinner and supper of the king, 
chase or promenade, play or collation. 

Each of these events — the lever, the chase, the prome- 
nade — was a bit of gorgeous color. The reception of an 
ambassador, a ball in the grand gallery, were scenes of un- 
rivaled magnificence. At all times and in all places, the 
complicated and glittering mechanism of the court placed the 
majestic figure of the King of France in a setting of supreme 
splendor. It was unique and wonderful. It was not created, 
however, to promote the individual happiness of its ten thou- 
sand component parts, but to produce dazzling results by 
numbers and by combinations of colors. " The province," 
says La Bruyere, " is the viewpoint from which the court ap- 
pears truly admirable. If one approaches, its charms dimin- 
ish, as those of a landscape that are seen too near." 
I The first duty of a courtier was to see the king each day as 
L_ often as possible. " I paid my court to the king," wrote the 
Due de Lauzun, " and I hunted him very punctually." " I 
scarcely saw the king once a day," wrote Saint-Simon, at the 
time of his agitation at the illness of the Due de Bourgogne. 
To see the king once a day was nothing. He must be seen 
at the lever and at the coucher, at dinner and at supper, at the 
promenade, and if possible when he changed his coat and 
boots. In this particular the Due de la Rochefoucauld, 
grand huntsman of France, was the type of the perfect cour- 
tier, " He never missed the king's lever and coucher, both 
changes of dress every day, the hunts and the promenades, 
likewise every day, for ten years in succession, never sleep- 
ing away from the place where the king was, and yet on a 
footing to demand leave." If one was to make one's way at 
court, this assiduity was essential. The eye of the master 

346 



Mechanism of the Court Life 



never failed to note the present and the absent. " His Majesty 
looked to the right and to the left, not only at his lever and 
coucher, but at his meals, in passing through his apartments, 
or his gardens of Versailles. He saw and noticed everybody ; 
not one escaped him, not even those who hoped to remain un- 
noticed. He marked well all absentees from court, found out 
the reason for their absence, and never lost an opportunity 
of acting toward them as occasion might seem to justify." 
In the face of such omniscience, only the fool absented him- 
self from lever, mass, or promenade, thinking that in the 
crowd the king would never know. Never know ? Take for 
example that scene at the birth of the Due de Bourgogne. 
" Although the chamber was filled with the princes and prin- 
cesses of the blood, and a large number of other people whose 
presence was necessary for the service, the king, judging that 
the moment of the delivery was near, and with that presence 
of mind which never fails him, saw at a glance, in spite of the 
number of persons crowded in the chamber, that M. le 
Prince de Conti was not there. He gave orders that he 
should be summoned immediately." 

Since so large a number of people were involved in the 
king's daily life, it was necessary that they should know each 
morning what his movements were to be, and that he should 
be punctual. His Majesty was punctuality itself. After his 
lever he passed into his cabinet. " He found there or was 
followed by all who had the entrees, a very numerous com- 
pany, for it included everybody in any office. He gave 
orders to each for the day. Thus within half a quarter of an 
hour it was known what he meant to do, and then all this 
crowd left directly." The courtiers could then plan their 
day. They must attend mass, which came shortly after the 
lever, and they were then free, while the king was in council, 
until one o'clock, when the king dined. They were expected 
to be present at the dinner ; the mechanism of the court gave 



347 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

them nothing to eat at that hour, but they stood in the royal 
bedchamber, and formed a brilHant background. They 
dined in their apartments in the chateau, or in their hotels in 
Versailles, before or after the king's dinner, as they pleased. 
But aside from obligation, self-interest made the courtiers 
crowd to the king's dinner, because immediately after it His 
Majesty granted audiences to the nobility, before he went to 
walk or drive or hunt. In the afternoon the courtiers were 
free unless there was a promenade, in which case, at Ver- 
sailles and Trianon, all the courtiers were expected to be 
present; at Marly only the chief officers followed the king 
to the promenade. If there was a stag-hunt, only those were 
allowed to go who had obtained permission once for all, and 
leave to wear the blue uniform with gold and silver lace. 
When the king returned from the chase and changed his 
dress, a few courtiers were present, distinguished people 
whom it pleased the first gentleman of the Chamber to admit. 
This gave opportunity to speak a word or two to the king 
almost in private, and was a privilege much sought after, and 
granted to few. The majority of the courtiers were free 
until the king's supper at ten o'clock, when all the court, sit- 
ting or standing, formed the background for the supper- 
table of the royal family. About midnight the ceremony of 
the coucher, at which all the courtiers were expected to be 
present, closed the day. 

Attendance at court performances was compulsory. " News 
reached the court, which was at Fontainebleau, that M. de 
Duras was at the point of death. Upon hearing this, Madame 
de Saint-Simon and Madame de Lauzun, who were both re- 
lated to M. de Duras, wished to absent themselves from the 
comedy that was to be given in the palace that evening. 
They expressed this wish to Madame de Bourgogne, who 
approved of it, but said she was afraid the king would not 
do the same. He had been very angry of late because some 

348 



Mechanism of the Court Life 



ladies had neglected to go in full dress to the court per- 
formance; and the few words he had spoken made every- 
body take good care not to rouse his anger on this point again. 
Madame de Bourgogne was afraid that he would not con- 
sent to dispense with the attendance of Madame de Saint- 
Simon and Madame de Lauzun on this occasion. They com- 
promised the matter, therefore, by dressing themselves, going 
to the apartment where the performance was held, and, under 
pretext of not finding places, going away. Madame de Bour- 
gogne agreed to explain in this way their absence to the 
king." ^ If in the case of a dying relative it was so difficult 
to manage the matter, it may easily be seen that on ordinary 
occasions no excuse was accepted from a person who was well 
enough to walk. The court must march, at all times and in 
all seasons. If the lever and coucher, the comedy, the colla- 
tion, the promenade, were each day to be equally brilliant, 
the court must march. If the setting in which the King of 
France moved was to maintain a uniform splendor, the court 
must march. The king must march, likewise. He did so 
with the regularity of the sun, his emblem. Those were wise 
words he addressed to his cousin. Mile, de Montpensier, when 
he went to see her new house at Choisy. He blamed her for 
not ornamenting the fagade. " We have no right to be care- 
less," said he. " Since universal agreement has made us 
Avhat we are, we must know how to carry our burden, and we 
must lay it down at no time and in no place." That was his 
standard, and he lived up to it; but to carry the burden re- 
quired his vigor, his constitution, the firmness of his nerves, 
and his power of accomplishing work in spite of the tram- 
mels of etiquette. His successors staggered under the load. 

The mechanism of the king's life was so perfect that, with 
a watch in the hand, it was possible for one to tell on any day 
in the year and at any hour of the day what His Majesty was 
^ Saint-Simon. I, p. 314. 



349 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

doing. Saint-Simon notes a trifle like the following : " The 
last evening of this year (1708) was very remarkable, be- 
cause there had not yet been an example of any such thing. 
The king having retired after supper to his cabinet as usual 
with his family, Chamillart came without being sent for. 
He whispered in the king's ear that he had a long despatch 
from the Marechal de Boufflers. Immediately the king said 
good night to Monseigneur and the princesses, who went out 
with every one else; and the king actually worked for an 
hour with his minister before going to bed, so excited was he 
by the great project for retaking Lille! " He worked every 
evening with his ministers in the apartments of Madame de 
Maintenon from seven o'clock until ten, when he went to 
supper. What makes this case so astounding in Saint- 
Simon's eyes is the fact that on the night in question the king 
worked between eleven and twelve. It was " very remark- 
able, because there had not yet been an example of any such 
thing." Those few words speak volumes for the mechanism. 
Note this also. The king was on the way to his carriage to 
go to the hunt. M. de Duras, who was in waiting, made a 
statement about a certain matter. " At this, the king 
stopped, and turning round, a thing he scarcely ever did in 
walking, replied." The fact that so slight a check in the 
royal progress is noted and commented upon, shows with 
what mathematical precision the Grand Monarch moved. 

In addition to seeing the king as often as possible, the 
courtiers had to be up betimes. The royal lever was at 
eight o'clock, but the true courtier was also at the lever of 
Monseigneur, or at those of the princes of the blood, which 
came earlier, because the princes and Monseigneur had to be 
at the lever of the king, and promptly at eight, too, since 
they had the first entree. " At what hour will monsieur be 
called ? " inquired the valet of the Marechal de Noailles, one 
night, as he closed his master's bed-curtains. "At eight 

350 



Mechanism of the Court Life 



o'clock, if no one dies during the night." If any one died, 
there was not a moment to be lost in asking for his place. 
Take the case of La Vrilliere. " Chateauneuf, Secretary of 
State, died about this time (1700). He had asked that his 
son, La Vrilliere, might be allowed to succeed him, and was 
much vexed that the king refused this favor. The news of 
Chateauneuf's death was brought to La Vrilliere by a courier 
at five o'clock in the morning. He did not lose his wits at 
the news, but at once sent and woke up the Princesse d'Har- 
court, and begged her to come and see him instantly. Open- 
ing his purse, he prayed her to go to see Madame de Main- 
tenon as soon as she got up, and propose his marriage with 
Mile, de Mailly, whom he would take without dowry if the 
king gave him his father's appointments. The Princesse 
d'Harcourt, whose habit it was to accept any sum, from a 
crown upward, willingly undertook this business. She went 
to Madame de Maintenon immediately, and then repaired to 
Madame de Mailly, who, without property, and burdened 
with sons and daughters, was in no way adverse to the mar- 
riage. The king, upon getting up, was duly made acquainted 
with La Vrilliere's proposal, and at once agreed to it." Thus 
we see La Vrilliere, learning the news of his father's death 
at five o'clock in the morning, buying the services of the 
Princesse d'Harcourt, securing Madame de Maintenon and 
Madame de Mailly, and having everything cut and dried by 
eight o'clock, when the king woke and learned of the death 
of Chateauneuf. That was to be up betimes. La Vrilliere 
had three hours to effect his combination, but wonderful 
combinations were often made at court in much less time. 
As a rule, then, at Versailles the courtier, who made his way 
and was alive to his interests, was up and dressed and ready 
for action by seven o'clock in the morning. 

For women there were the same duties toward the queen 
that men performed toward the king, and when the queen 

351 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

died, the duties were toward the dauphine, who held court in 
her place. The public toilet of the dauphine demanded the 
presence of both men and women. At her dinner the dau- 
phine was served by women only; she supped always with 
the king and the royal family in the king's antechamber. At 
Versailles women did not appear at the king's dinner, except 
on rare occasions when he dined au grand convert. At 
Marly, however, the king dined always with the ladies invited 
there. 

The old courtier who gave to a novice the following rules 
for success at court, " Speak well of everybody, ask for every 
vacant place, and sit down when you can," touched, in the 
last, upon that phase of the mechanism which made court life 
so fatiguing. Standing continually is very wearisome, and 
at Versailles a courtier could rarely sit down. Etiquette 
forbade him to sit in the antechambers, in the state apart- 
ments, and in the gallery. He stood at the royal lever and 
coucher, at the dinner and supper, at the assembly, at the ball, 
at the toilet of Mme. la Dauphine. He could sit at mass, at 
the comedy, and at the card-table; but the relaxation thus 
afforded was slight, after all. He passed his days on his feet. 

The triumph of the mechanism, and that phase of it which 
made it possible for the king to detect the absent almost at a 
glance, was the fact that at all times, not only at ceremonies, 
but at balls and diversions, it preserved the relative value of 
its component parts. Take for example the arrangement 
at a ball, as given by Saint-Simon : " The balls at Versailles 
were always in the form of a quadrilateral. At one side, in 
the center, was the arm-chair of the king, and at either side 
of it, on the same line, the seats for the royal family, as far 
as and including the rank of grandson of France. Some- 
times in derangement of this order, in the midst of the ball, 
Mme. la Duchesse and Mme. la Princesse de Conti ap- 
proached, under pretext of speaking with some one at the 

352 



Mechanism of the Court Life 



side, and took the last places. Titled ladies, and then the 
others, without being mixed, occupied the long sides of the 
quadrilateral, and on the side opposite to the king were those 
■who danced, princes of the blood and others. The princes 
who did not dance stood with the courtiers behind the ladies." 
Thus we see that at a ball the relative value of the component 
parts was as carefully preserved as at the lever, or at the 
supper au grand convert, or at the reception of an ambas- 
sador. If Mme. la Duchesse moved from one stool to an- 
other, it deranged the order. 

This was the true triumph of the mechanism ; its combina- 
tions preserved their relative values, and meant something at 
every moment. Take the dukes, for example. When they 
appear, this is their order : the Due d'Elboeuf, the Due de 
Montbazon, the Due de Ventadour, the Due de Vendome, 
the Due de la Tremoille, the Due de Sully, the Due de Chev- 
reuse, the Due de Brissac, the Due de Richelieu, the Due de 
Saint-Simon, the Due de la Rochefoucauld, and so on. They 
stand in two lines, and for convenience we may number them 
from one to twenty, and from twenty-one to forty. They 
form a brilliant picture and a perfect combination. But let 
number five step behind number eight, let number twelve 
change places with number fourteen, let number thirty pass in 
front of number twenty-seven, and though the men remain 
the same, and the picture equally brilliant, the combination 
no longer means anything; they are, as Saint-Simon so fre- 
quently puts it, " in confusion as to rank and precedence, 
without example," confusion fit to astound a king and horrify 
a grand master of ceremonies. 

Thus at Versailles the watchwords were order, harmony, 
and the preservation of relative values, and these were 
achieved by the most marvelous mechanism ever devised by 
the mind of man for a like purpose. Perfect as it was, how- 
ever, it could not display the uniform harmony of the 



35 



o 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

heavenly bodies. Human nature cannot always express, in 
lines and in half-circles, mysterious combinations. At a ball 
in the grand gallery, at the marriage of the Due de Bour- 
gogne, we find that " there was such a crowd, and such dis- 
order, that even the king was inconvenienced, and Monsieur 
was pushed and knocked about in the crush. How other 
people fared may be imagined. No place was kept, strength 
or chance decided everything, people squeezed in where they 
could. This spoiled all the fete." On that occasion, and on 
others, despite mechanism and masters of ceremonies, the 
eternal savage in man came to the front, even in the palace 
and presence of the Sun King. 



354 



XI 

MANNERS AND MORALS OF THE COURTIERS 



F 



^OR the court the Grand Monarch himself set the 
standard of manners. He might express his dis- 
pleasure by a glance that terrified, by a silence that 
froze, by a lettre-de-cachet that sent an offender to 
the Bastille, but he never failed in courtesy. " Never was 
man so naturally polite, or of a politeness so measured, so 
graduated, so adapted to person, time, and place." It might 
be possible to question his ability as a warrior, his wisdom as 
a statesman, even his duty as a king, but there could never 
be the slightest question as to his being the first gentleman of 
his realm. He was the type, and whenever a courtier failed 
in dignity, in tact, in grace, in courtesy, he fell short of the 
model that moved before his eyes. It was, however, almost 
impossible for the courtiers to display in their words and 
actions the naturalness that accompanied the king. He was 
above all and supreme. He rose or sat, he smiled or bowed, 
he spoke or was silent, at his pleasure. There was never any 
doubt in his mind as to his attitude; there were constant 
difficulties in their minds as to their attitudes. His rank was 
unquestioned; their ranks clashed constantly. He was se- 
rene; they were anxious. On the other hand, they felt no 
sense of responsibility for public affairs; he had to bear the 
burden of the faults of his lieutenants. They could retire 
and relax ; he was always on the stage. 

His courtesy never contradicted itself. When the mar- 

355 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

riage of the Due de Chartres and Mile, de Blois was an- 
nounced, Madame, full of fury that her son was to wed the 
monarch's illegitimate daughter, forgot herself at supper. 
" I remarked," says Saint-Simon, " that the king offered 
Madame nearly all the dishes that were before him, and that 
she refused with an air of rudeness which did not, however, 
check his politeness. It was furthermore noticeable that, 
after leaving the table, he made to Madame a very marked 
and very low reverence, during which she performed so com- 
plete a pirouette that the king, on raising his head, found 
nothing but her back before him, removed about a step 
further toward the door." The second example is given by 
the Palatine : " Christian Louis of Mecklenbourg was a 
notable fool. One day he demanded an audience of the king, 
under pretense of having something of importance to say to 
him. Louis XIV was then more than forty years old. When 
the diike found himself in the king's presence, he said to him, 
* Sire, you seem to me to have grown.' The king smiled, and 
said, ' Monsieur, I am past the age of growing.' ' Sire,' re- 
joined the duke, ' do you know people say I am very much 
like you, and quite as good-looking as you are ? ' ' That is 
is very probable,' said the king, laughing. The audience 
being finished, the duke went away." Saint-Simon fur- 
nishes the third. The Due de Beauvilliers was very pious. 
" At the army one day, during a promenade of the king, M. 
de Beauvilliers walked alone, a little in front. Some one re- 
marked it, and observed, sneeringly, that he was ' meditating.' 
The king, who heard this, turned toward the speaker, and 
said, ' Yes, it is M. de Beauvilliers, one of the best men of the 
court and of my realm.' This sudden and short apology 
caused silence, and food for reflection." And as in these 
three eases, in dealing with an angry woman, a fool, and a 
faultfinder, the Grand Monarch displayed a uniform courtesy, 
so with all with whom he came in contact, whatever faults 

356 



Manners and Morals of the Courtiers 

he had, whatever mistakes he committed, he was ever king 
and gentleman. 

By Louis XIV the booted roisterers and swash-bucklers of 
Richelieu's time were polished. Against swearing and duel- 
ing the king threw the weight of his authority, and though 
he could eradicate neither, he held them within bounds. At 
the court of St. Germain manners acquired unequaled majesty 
and elegance ; they became superior to morals ; they were all 
in all. The king gave rise to scandal on account of his 
mistresses. He went through Flanders with his wife, Marie 
Therese, the Duchesse de la Valliere, and Madame de Montes- 
pan, all in the same coach ; and the peasants crowded to see 
the " three queens," asking one another in their simplicity if 
they had seen them. Louis rode at the coach door, giving to 
all the world the spectacle of a double adultery, as though he 
had been the Grand Turk himself. But with the establish- 
ment of the court in residence at Versailles, the days of 
scandal and of mistresses were done, as far as the monarch 
was concerned. There is no reason to doubt the sincerity of 
his purpose to make good his title of Most Christian King. 
With him morals rose to the level of manners ; with Madame 
de Maintenon morals were ostensibly all in all. 

At Versailles etiquette and environment made manners the 
chief of the fine arts. "There was not a toilet there," says 
Taine, " an air of the head, a tone of the voice, an expression 
in language, which was not a masterpiece of worldly culture, 
the distilled quintessence of all that is exquisitely elaborated 
by social art. Polished as the society of Paris might be, it 
did not approach that; compared with the court, it seemed 
provincial. It is said that a hundred thousand roses are re- 
quired to make an ounce of the unique perfume used by the 
Persian kings; such was that drawing-room, the frail vial 
of crystal and gold containing the substance of a human vege- 
tation. To fill it, a great aristocracy had to be transplanted 

357 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

to a hothouse and become sterile in fruit and flowers; and 
then, in the royal alembic, its pure sap is concentrated into a 
few drops of aroma. The price is excessive, but only at this 
price can the most delicate perfumes be manufactured," ^ The 
simile is beautiful, but not without exaggeration. There was 
more than one courtier whose manners were not a " master- 
piece of worldly culture." There were some whose polite- 
ness was ludicrous, like the Due de Coislin ; there were others 
whose vulgarity was disgusting, like the Princesse d'Har- 
court ; but they were in the minority, and were exceptions to 
the rule. 

" The Due de Coislin was a very little man of much humor 
and virtue, but of a politeness that was unendurable and that 
passed all bounds. He had been lieutenant-general in the 
army. Upon one occasion, after a battle in which he had 
taken part, one of the Rhingraves, who had been made pris- 
oner, fell to his lot. The Due de Coislin wished to give up 
to the other his bed, which consisted, indeed, of but a mattress. 
They complimented each other so much, the one pressing, the 
other refusing, that in the end they both slept upon the 
ground, leaving the mattress between them. The Rhingrave 
in due time came to Paris and called on the Due de Coislin. 
When he was going, there was such a profusion of compli- 
ments, and the duke insisted so much on seeing him out, that 
the Rhingrave, as a last resource, ran out of the room, and 
locked the door outside. M. de Coislin was not thus to be 
outdone. His apartments were only a few feet above the 
ground. He opened the window accordingly, leaped out 
into the court, and arrived thus at the entrance-door before 
the Rhingrave, who thought the devil must have carried him 
there." ^ 

The Princesse d'Harcourt was a person of another sort: 
" a tall fat creature, mightily brisk in her movements, with a 

^ Taine. The Ancient Regime, p. 103. ' Saint-Simon, I, p. 248. 



Manners and Morals of the Courtiers 

complexion like milk-porridge, great ugly thick lips, and hair 
like tow, always sticking out and hanging down in disorder, 
like all the rest of her fittings-out," Her manners were in 
accord with her appearance. " She was a blonde Fury, nay 
more, a harpy ; she had all the effrontery of one, all the deceit 
and violence, all the avarice and audacity, moreover, all the 
gluttony, and all the promptitude to relieve herself from the 
effects thereof; so that she drove out of their wits those at 
whose houses she dined." ^ 

However, it is not with the exceptions, but with the ma- 
jority, that one should deal. The great lady who " received 
ten persons with one curtsy, bestowing on each, by her head 
or by her glance, all that his rank entitled him to," ^ appeared 
daily at Versailles. The man who regulated his salutations 
with marvelous tact and dexterity — " one for women of 
quality, one for women of the court, one for titled women, 
one for women of high birth married to men beneath them " 
— was also in evidence. At her public toilet the Duchesse 
de Bourgogne rose a few inches in her chair for the princes 
of the blood and for the dukes and duchesses ; for others she 
inclined her head to a greater or less degree, according to 
their rank, but no one was forgotten. At the conclusion of 
an audience with a duke. His Majesty retired with a "half 
bow, very smiling and very gracious," and the nobleman, 
with a " profound bow," withdrew the way he came. Every 
morning at seven o'clock the Due de Fronsac stationed him- 
self, by his father's command, " at the foot of a stairway 
leading to the chapel, simply to bow to Madame de Main- 
tenon when she went to St. Cyr." To sit with grace upon a 
stool, to open a door, to take a fan, to escort a lady, holding 
her hand by the tips of the fingers, to leave an apartment, to 
descend a staircase, to enter a carriage, to make the three 
reverences in approaching royalty — for doing all these things, 

^ Saint-Simon, I, p. 133. " De Tilly, I, p. 24. 

359 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

and a hundred others, there were certain ways, in which the 
courtier alone excelled, in which the Parisian found himself 
at fault, in which the provincial failed completely. 

But if the life at Versailles promoted manners, it was not 
propitious to morals. The concentration of the nobility, 
their wealth, their idleness, the fact that they were debarred 
from nearly all pursuits save that of pleasure, all these things 
were against morals. A man of rank had his own household, 
his apartments, his equipages, and his society; his wife, 
though under the same roof, had her separate establishment. 
She had her post at court, her friends, her proteges, and her 
solicitors, and he had his ; fashion regulated all that. But a 
man, if he chose, could spend much time in the company of 
his wife, and there were many notable examples — among 
others, the king and Madame de Maintenon, the Due and 
Duchesse de Bourgogne, the Due and Duchesse de Beauvil- 
liers, the Due and Duchesse de Saint-Simon; on the other 
hand, he had every inducement to spend as little as possible. 
" I conducted myself," says the Due de Lauzun, " very pru- 
dently and even deferentially with Madame de Lauzun; I 
had Madame de Cambis very openly, for whom I concerned 
myself very little; I kept the little Eugenie, whom I loved a 
great deal." What was true of M. de Lauzun was true of 
the majority, especially the generation of the Due d'Orleans. 
M. de Lauzun wrote of his life at a little later period ; at the 
time in question, however, everything would have been the 
same, except in one particular : he would still have had his 
Madame de Cambis, but not "very openly." At Versailles 
the king kept vice below the surface. " An extreme curios- 
ity, or a great familiarity with things, was necessary to de- 
tect the slightest intimacy between the two sexes." 

Louis could coerce his courtiers, but he could not correct 
them, though at times he spoke in no uncertain tones. ** The 
year finished (1695) with the disgrace of Madame de Saint- 

360 





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Princesse de Conti 







Manners and Morals of the Courtiers 

Geran. She was on the best of terms with the princesses, 
and as much a lover of good cheer as Madame de Chartres 
and Mme. la Duchesse. The latter had in the park of 
Versailles a little house that she called the ' Desert.' There 
she received very doubtful company, giving such gay repasts 
that the king, informed of her doings, was angry, and for- 
bade her to continue these parties or to receive certain guests.' 
Madame de Saint-Geran was then in the first year of her 
mourning, so that the king did not think it necessary to in- 
clude her among the interdicted, but he intimated that he did 
not approve of her. In spite of this, Mme. la Duchesse, hav- 
ing invited her to an early supper at the ' Desert ' a short 
time after, prolonged the meal so far into the night and with 
so much gaiety that it came to the ears of the king. He was 
in great anger, and learning that Madame de Saint-Geran 
had been of the party, sentenced her to be banished twenty 
leagues from court. Like a clever woman, she retired into a 
convent at Rouen, saying that, as she had been unfortunate 
enough to displease the king, a convent was the only place for 
her; and this was much approved." ^ 

Since they dared not do otherwise, the courtiers were 
punctual in their attendance in the chapel of Versailles. 
Hypocrisy reigned. " They have their God and their king," 
says La Bruyere, " and each day at a certain hour the lords of: 
the nation assemble in a temple which they call their church. 
At the end is an altar consecrated to their God, where the 
priests celebrate the holy mysteries. The lords form a vast 
circle at the foot of the altar, with their backs toward the 
priests, and their faces turned toward their king, whom they 
see on his knees in a tribune. There is in this a kind of sub- 
ordination; because the people appear to adore the prince, 
and the prince to adore God." 

In that sumptuous chapel of Versailles, the Abbe Boileau 
^ Saint-Simon, I, p. 95. 
361 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

preached upon humility (1694), and the Mercure tells us 
that his sermon received " much praise." Pere Soanen thun- 
dered against vice (1695), so much so that all pronounced it 
" a trumpet-blast from heaven." Bourdaloue denounced 
gambling (1697), and received ''grands applaudissements." 
Massillon rebuked pride (1704), and they agreed that it w^as 
" le plus beau sermon du monde." Sermons could not save. 

" A few years before his retirement, Brissac, Major of the 
Body-Guards, served the court ladies a nice turn. All through 
the winter they attended evening prayers on Thursdays and 
Sundays, because the king went there ; and under pretense of 
reading their prayer-books, had little tapers before them, 
which cast a light on their faces, and enabled the king to 
recognize them as he passed. On the evenings when they 
knew he would not go, scarcely one of them went. One 
evening when the king was expected, all the ladies had ar- 
rived and were in their places, and the guards were at the 
doors. Suddenly Brissac appeared in the king's place, lifted 
his baton, and cried aloud, * Guards of the king, withdraw, 
return to your quarters ; the king is not coming this evening.' 
The guards withdrew, but after they had proceeded a short 
distance, they were stopped by brigadiers posted for the pur- 
pose, and told to return in a few minutes. What Brissac had 
said was a joke. The ladies at once began to murmur to one 
another; and in a moment or two all the candles were put 
out, and the ladies, with but few exceptions, left the chapel. 
Soon after the king arrived, and, much astonished to see so 
few ladies present, asked how it was that nobody was there. 
At the conclusion of the prayers Brissac related what he had 
done, not without dwelling on the piety of the court ladies. 
The king and all who accompanied him laughed heartily. 
The story soon spread, and these ladies would have strangled 
Brissac, if they had been able." ^ 

^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 14. 
362 



Manners and Morals of the Courtiers 

That is a delightful anecdote, and nothing could express 
better the piety practised at Versailles. As for the men, the 
attitude of the younger generation was much the same as that 
of the Due d'Orleans. " One Christmas-time at Versailles, 
when the Due d'Orleans accompanied the king to morning 
prayers and to the three midnight masses, he surprised the 
court by his continual application in reading a volume he had 
brought with him, and which appeared to be a prayer-book. 
The chief femme de chamhre of Mme. la Duchesse d'Orleans, 
much attached to the family, and very free as all good old 
domestics are, transfixed with joy at M. le Due d'Orleans's ap- 
plication to his book, complimented him upon it the next day 
in the presence of others. He allowed her to go on for some 
time, and then said, ' You are very silly, Madame Imbert. 
Do you know what I was reading? It was Rabelais, that I 
brought with me for fear of being bored.' " ^ 

Thus at the king's command the courtiers marched to mass, 
and while undoubtedly there was some genuine piety, there 
was a vast amount of hypocrisy. Louis himself was in 
earnest, and to appreciate what his coercion held in check 
it is necessary to view the license and debauchery that broke 
out after his death, when the man who read Rabelais in chapel 
became Regent of France. 

* Saint-Simon, II, p. 2i^. 



363 



T 



XII 

PLEASURES OF THE COURTIERS 

HE ordinary pleasures and diversions of the court 
were the appartement, play (gambling), comedy, 
concerts, balls, collations, promenades, and the 
chase. 

APPARTEMENT 



" An appartement, as it was called," says Saint-Simon, " was 
an assemblage of all the court in the grand salon from seven 
o'clock in the evening until ten, when the king sat down to 
supper, and after ten in one of the salons at the end of the 
grand gallery, toward the tribune of the chapel. In the first 
place there was some music; then tables were placed all 
about for all kinds of gambling; there was a lansquenet, at 
which Monsieur and Monseigneur always played; also a 
billiard-table ; in a word, every one was free to play with any 
one else, and allowed to ask for fresh tables if all the others 
were occupied. Beyond the billiards was a refreshment- 
room. All was perfectly lighted. At the outset, the king 
went to the appartements very often and played, but lately 
he had ceased to do so. He spent the evening with Madame 
de Maintenon, working with different ministers one after 
another; but still he wished his courtiers to attend assidu- 
ously." 

The Mercure describes an appartement with more detail : 
" The king opens his state apartments at Versailles on Mon- 

364 



Pleasures of the Courtiers 



day, Wednesday, and Thursday of each week (1682), for all 
-sorts of games, from six in the evening until ten, and these 
days are named jours d'appartement. At the hour named, 
each one presents himself to be received in these superb sa- 
lons ; but no one presents himself to whom the entree has not 
been given. Some choose one game, others another. Some 
prefer to watch the players, and others to promenade to ad- 
mire the assembly and the grand apartments. Although 
they are filled with the crowd, there are present only people 
of rank. Every one is at liberty to speak to every one else, 
but, out of respect for the king, no one talks too loud, so that 
the noise of the conversation is not disagreeable. The king, 
the queen, and all the royal family descend from their great- 
ness to play with many people in the assembly who have 
never had that honor. The king goes from one table to an- 
other, and wishes no one to rise or to stop playing at his ap- 
proach. When he leaves a game, some one else takes his 
place. People pass into the salon, where there are liqueurs 
and a collation. The lackeys who serve wear blue coats with 
silver lace. They stand behind all the gaming-tables to hand 
the players the cards, or the counters, or anything else they 
may wish. In some games, as at trou-madame, they save the 
players the trouble of keeping score ; they calculate the points, 
and write them down. There is music, also, for those who 
wish to dance." ^ 

This account, written in 1682, speaks of the appartements 
being held on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday ; at a later 
period they were held on other evenings, as stated in a pre- 
ceding chapter. After 1691 the king no longer went to the 
appartement, but he wished all the courtiers to be present, 
and in December, 1693, he was much displeased to hear that 
there were fewer ladies than usual at the appartement, es- 
pecially since Monseigneur held court there in his place. 

^ Le Mercure Galant, 1682. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

After 1697, on the evenings when Monseigneur was at Meu- 
don, there was neither appartement nor comedy at Versailles. 

PLAY 

Gambling was the chief pleasure of the court. The prin- 
cipal games of cards were bassette, reversi (1686), hoca, 
brelan, lansquenet (1689), and papillon. They played also 
tourniquet, portiqiie, la bete, trente et quarante, cadran de 
I'anneau-tournant (a game invented by Louis XIV in 1689), 
billiards, chess, and backgammon. In trou-madame and 
portique, little ivory balls were rolled through arches marked 
with certain numbers, or through arches into squares con- 
taining numbers, the value of which decided the gain or loss. 
Some of these games were in fashion only for a short period ; 
those which held their own year after year, and at which im- 
mense sums were lost and won, were reversi, brelan, and 
lansquenet. 

" On Saturday I was at Versailles with Villars," wrote 
Madame de Sevigne in 1676. " At three o'clock, the king, 
the queen, Monsieur, Madame, Mademoiselle, Madame de 
Montespan, all their suite, all the courtiers, in short all the 
court of France, assembled in that beautiful apartment ^ 
which you know. All is divinely furnished; all is magnifi- 
cent. No one is too warm there,^ and we pass from one part 
to another without crowding. A game of reversi gives 
form to the assembly and fixes all. The king was near 
Madame de Montespan, who held the card, with the queen. 
Monsieur, and Madame de Soubise. Dangeau and company, 
Langlee^ and company, are there, and a thousand louis are 
on the table. They have no other counters. I watched 
Dangeau play, and marveled, thinking what fools we are at 
play in comparison with him. Nothing distracts him, he 

^ The salon of Mars. ° It was the end of July. 

^ Dangeau and Langlee were famous players. 

366 



Pleasures of the Courtiers 



neglects nothing, he profits by everything, and he gains where 
others lose. Thus 100,000 francs in ten days, 100,000 
crowns in a month, all are entered in his account-book. He 
asked me to take part in his game, so that I was seated very 
conveniently and agreeably. I saluted the king, and he re- 
turned my salutation as though I had been young and pretty. 
The queen spoke to me for some time of my illness. Madame 
de Montespan talked to me of Bourbon.^ Her beauty is a 
surprising thing. . . . This agreeable confusion, without 
confusion, of all that is most select lasted from three until 
six. If couriers arrived, the king retired a moment to read 
his letters, and then returned. There was always music, 
which made a very good effect. The king talked with the 
ladies who are accustomed to have that honor. Finally, they 
stopped play at six o'clock." 

Philippe de Courcillon, Marquis de Dangeau, was the most 
successful gambler at court; there was no game he had not 
mastered. " He owed his success," says Saint-Simon, " to 
his good looks, to the court he paid to the king's mistresses, 
and to a lucky stroke of fortune. The king had oftentimes 
been importuned to give him a lodging in the chateau, and 
one day, joking with him upon his fancy for versifying, pro- 
posed to him some very hard rimes, and promised him a 
lodging if he filled them up upon the spot. Dangeau accepted, 
thought but for a moment, performed the task, and thus 
gained his lodging." In face and figure Dangeau strongly 
resembled the king; and sometimes at masquerades, if the 
king went incognito, Dangeau impersonated the monarch by 
the king's request. His Memoirs show that he was some- 
thing besides a card-player. His wife was a close friend of 
Madame de Maintenon. He held his own through every 
change of fortune. He was born under a lucky star. 

" The king," says Dangeau, under date of November 10, 

^ A fashionable watering-place. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

1686, "being at Fontainebleau, ordered a grand game of 
reversi for the jours d'appartement at Versailles. The king 
will hold one; Monseigneur and Monsieur will each hold 
another; and His Majesty named Langlee and myself to hold 
the other two. The stakes are high." The Marquis de 
Sourches speaks of the same game. "It was then (1686) 
that His Majesty decided to begin the appartements as soon 
as the court returned to Versailles, and to hold there a grand 
game of reversi, for which each player required a fund of 
5000 pistoles.^ The players are the king, Monseigneur, Mon- 
sieur, the Marquis de Dangeau, and Langlee, Marechal des 
Logis. But as the advances were considerable, the players 
associated with them many other persons of the court." In 
1687 the grand game of reversi recommenced, the five players 
being those of the preceding year. " Reversi was the only 
game at which the king played," says the Palatine, " and 
which he liked." 

To reversi succeeded brelan. " The grand game of brelan 
is finished," writes Dangeau, under date of March, 1696. 
" MM. de Vendome have gained more than 100,000 livres." 
At times the losses were enormous. Dangeau speaks of a loss 
of 10,000 pistoles, which would be 500,000 francs to-day. 
Lansquenet became fashionable about the same time, and kept 
its popularity for many years. " Here in France," says the 
Palatine, in 1695, " ^^ soon as people assemble, they play 
lansquenet. That game is now the rage. They play for 
frightful sums, and the players are like madmen ; they shout, 
they strike the table with their fists, they swear in a fashion 
to make one's hair stand on end." They undoubtedly did so 
at St. Cloud and Meudon, where they had a free rein, but not 
at Versailles or Marly. The Palatine herself bears witness 
to that : " It was formerly the custom to swear horridly on all 
occasions ; the king detested this practice and soon abolished 
^ 250,000 francs to-day. 

368 




Marie de Rabutin-Chantal. Marquise de Sevigne 



Pleasures of the Courtiers 



it." He could not stamp it out entirely any more than he 
could dueling, but he abolished both as far as he could. In 
the king's houses, people did not dare to shout, and swear, and 
pound tables; but at Meudon and St. Cloud more than one 
fracas occurred. Saint-Simon mentions one at Meudon in 
August, 1698: *' The Prince de Conti and the Grand Prieur 
were playing homhre, and a dispute arose respecting the 
game. The Grand Prieur, inflated by pride on account of the 
favors the king had showered upon him, and rendered au- 
dacious by being placed almost on a level with the princes of 
the blood, used words which would have been too strong 
even toward an equal. The Prince de Conti answered by a 
repartee in which the other's honesty at play and courage in 
war, both, in truth, little to boast about, were attacked. 
Upon this the Grand Prieur flew into a passion, flung away 
the cards, and demanded satisfaction, sword in hand. The 
Prince de Conti, with a smile of contempt, reminded him that 
he was wanting in respect, and at the same time said he could 
have the satisfaction he asked for whenever he pleased. The 
arrival of Monseigneur in his dressing-gown put an end to the 
fray. He ordered the Marquis de Gesvres, who was one of 
the courtiers present, to report the whole affair to the king, 
and that every one should go to bed. On the morrow the 
king was informed of what had taken place, and immediately 
ordered the Grand Prieur to go to the Bastille. He was 
obliged to obey, and remained in confinement several days. 
The affair made a great stir at court." 

High play eventually ruined the nobility. Even moderate 
persons like the queen got into debt. When she died in 1683, 
she owed 100,000 crowns, which she had lost at basse fte. 
The king paid them in April, 1684. Money was more plenti- 
ful then. Even in 1700 the king told the Due de Bourgogne 
to play freely, since money would not fail him. In 1702 the 
young prince lost large sums, which the king paid at once; 

369 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

but the Due de Bourgogne thereafter diminished his play. 
" The king, who had just paid ( 1700) the heavy gaming and 
tradesmen's debts of Mme. la Duchesse," says Saint-Simon,. 
" paid also those of Monseigneur, which amounted to 50,000 
francs." The debts of Mme. la Duchesse on that occasion 
amounted to 12,000 pistoles, about 600,000 francs to-day; 
but in paying them the king made her promise to make no 
more debts. At Marly, even more than at Versailles, high 
play was the rule. In the bad years of the War of the Span- 
ish Succession, though neither king nor court knew where to 
turn to get money, gambling still went on as best it could. 
At the marriage of the Due de Berry in July, 17 10, Saint- 
Simon relates that " the king, who had given a very mediocre 
present of diamonds to the new Duchesse de Berry, gave 
nothing to the Due de Berry. The latter had so little money 
that he could not play during the first days of the voyage to 
Marly. The Duchesse de Bourgogne told this to the king, 
who, feeling the state in which he himself was, said that he 
had only 500 pistoles (25,000 francs) to give the Due de 
Berry. He gave them with an excuse on the distress of the 
time, because the Duchesse de Bourgogne thought with rea- 
son that a little was better than nothing, and that it was insuf- 
ferable not to be able to play." High play ruined the nobility. 
Yet, in the chapel of Versailles, Bourdaloue thundered forth 
these words : " Gambling without measure is for you not a 
diversion, but an occupation, a profession, a traffic, a passion, 
a rage, a fury. It causes you to forget your duties, it de- 
ranges your households, it dissipates your revenues." They 
listened, and they went their way. Their environment was 
such that to be unable to play continued to be " insufferable." 

BALLS 

The dance was the form of diversion in which the ladies of 
the court excelled. The majority of the dances of the period 



Pleasures of the Courtiers 



were stately, serious, and difficult. A majestic and compli- 
cated dance like the hranle or the courante required much 
practice; and to perform, in a long court train, a very rapid 
dance like the passepied was far from easy. Dancing was 
languishing at court, and being superseded by lansquenet and 
brelan, when in 1696 the Duchesse de Bourgogne came to 
restore the dance to honor. 

Shortly before that time a ridiculous episode occurred at 
the balls given at the marriage of the Due de Chartres and 
Mile, de Blois, in 1692. It is interesting in connection with a 
court so dignified and so well disciplined as that of Louis 
XIV. " A son of Montbron," says Saint-Simon, " no more 
made to dance at court than his father was to be chevalier 
of the Order of St. Esprit (to which, however, he was pro- 
moted in 1688), was among the company. He had been 
asked if he danced well; and he replied with a confidence 
which made every one hope that the contrary was the case. 
Every one was satisfied. From the very first bow, he be- 
came confused, and he lost step at once. He tried to divert 
attention from his mistake by affected attitudes and carrying 
his arms high ; but this made him only more ridiculous, and 
excited bursts of laughter, which, in spite of the respect due to 
the person of the king (who likewise had great difficulty to 
hinder himself from laughing), degenerated at length into 
regular hooting. On the morrow, instead of flying the court 
or holding his tongue, Montbron excused himself by saying 
that the presence of the king had disconcerted him, and 
promised marvels for the ball which was to follow. He was 
one of my friends, and I felt for him. I should even have 
warned him against a second attempt, if the very indifferent 
success I had met with previously had not made me fear that 
my advice would be taken in ill part. As soon as he began 
to dance at the second ball, those who were near stood up, 
those who were far off climbed wherever they could to get a 



371 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

sight, and shouts of laughter were mingled with clapping of 
hands. Every one, even the king himself, laughed heartily, 
and most of us quite loud, so that I do not think that any one 
was ever so treated before. Montbron disappeared im- 
mediately afterward, and did not show himself again for a 
long time. It was a pity he exposed himself to this defeat, 
for he was an honorable and brave man." 

At the time of the carnival, the number of balls was 
doubled. The winter of 1700 was very gay at Versailles and 
at Marly. There were grand balls on the 21st and 226. of 
January, and masquerades on the 4th, 5th, and i8th of Feb- 
ruary. The Mercure gives an account of the masquerade of 
the 1 8th, which was gotten up at Marly by the Due de Char- 
tres : " It represented the Grand Turk and his menagerie. 
He was carried by slaves in a palanquin, and preceded by a 
great number of animals as natural as life. There were 
ostriches, cranes, apes, bears, parrots, and butterflies. In his 
suite marched the officers and slaves of the seraglio, and the 
sultanas, who, together with the animals, danced in an entree 
pleasant and new. M. le Marquis d'Antin^ was the Grand 
Turk, and the officers of the seraglio were Mgr. le Due de 
Bourgogne, M. le Due de Chartres, M. le Comte de Brionne, 
M. le Grand Prieur, M. le Prince Camille, and some others. 
The sultanas were Mme. la Princesse de Conti, and Mmes. 
d'Epinoy, de Villequier, and de Chatillon. Their costumes 
were magnificent. All the animals were as natural as life. 
The apes, who were professional mountebanks, were wonder- 
ful." 2 

A description of the brilliant balls at the marriage of the 
Due de Bourgogne, and of other masquerades at carnival- 
time, will be found in the chapter on Fetes. 

^ Legitimate son of Madame de Montespan. ' Mercure, 1700. 



372 



Pleasures of the Courtiers 



THE COLLATIONS 

The bosquets in the gardens of Versailles furnished beauti- 
ful settings for the collations during the promenades of the 
court. Nearly all the bosquets served in turn for collations, 
but those most frequently used for that purpose were the 
Salle de Bal and the Colonnade. Dangeau mentions several 
of these occasions. " On the 7th of May, 1685, on return- 
ing from a wolf-hunt, Monseigneur gave a splendid collation 
in the Salle de Bal to those who had been at the hunt. The 
repast was very gay. On leaving table, he went to promenade 
in the gardens, and then embarked on the canal. . . . On the 
1 2th of June, 1691, after a long promenade in the Orangery, 
the king, Monseigneur, the King and Queen of England, 
Monsieur and Madame, the princesses, and some ladies of 
their suite, went to the Salle de Bal, where they had a mag- 
nificent collation. They went afterward to visit many of the 
fountains. . . . On the 1 6th of May, 169 1, after a promenade 
in gondolas on the canal, Monseigneur and the princesses 
went to sup at the Colonnade, which was extremely well 
lighted." 

THE PROMENADES 

The court promenades at Versailles were splendid spectacles, 
made expressly to be painted. To gain some notion of them, 
one should stand in the parterre of Latona, and look toward 
the palace. If the sun is sinking, and the fountains play, the 
leaping waters flash as they fall aloft on Latona and her chil- 
dren, and afar, beyond the green yews, in the long yellow 
fagade of the chateau, the lofty windows of the gallery be- 
come refulgent. Then, as in the flesh, one may see again 
the court of France, in a blaze of pomp and color, descending 
that huge marble staircase at the heels of the Grand Monarch. 



373 



XIII 

THE FETES 

NOWHERE is there a better picture of the luxury 
of the court of Versailles than that given by the 
Mercure in describing the fetes at the marriage of 
the Due de Bourgogne and the Princess Marie 
Adelaide of Savoy (1697) : 

" No prince has ever kept his word with more exactness 
than the king. By the treaty made with M. le Due de Savoie, 
His Majesty had promised to marry M. le Due de Bourgogne 
to Mme. la Princesse de Savoie as soon as she should reach 
the age of twelve ; and as she accomplished that on the 6th of 
December, the marriage took place on the day following. On 
that day, which was Saturday, all the princes, princesses, 
and principal ladies of the court assembled between eleven 
and twelve o'clock in the chamber ^ of Mme. la Princesse de 
Savoie. Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne, accompanied by M. le 
Due de Beauvilliers,^ was conducted there, about half-past 
eleven, by M. le Marquis de Blainville, grand master of cere- 
monies, and by M. des Granges, master of ceremonies; and 
that prince took a seat near the princess, who was still at her 
toilette. The king having informed her of the breaking up 
of the council, she left her chamber to join His Majesty, who 
was waiting for her in the gallery. Mgr. le Due de Bour- 

^ The state bedchamber of the queen. 
^ The governor of the Due de Bourgogne. 

374 



The Fetes 

gogne gave her his right hand. M. le Marquis de Dangeau, 
his chevaHer of honor, carried his robe behind that prince, and 
M. le Comte de Tesse, his first equerry, walking on the other 
side, assisted from time to time in bearing it, on account of 
the weight of these robes. An exempt of the Guards, for the 
time being in the service of Mme. la Princesse de Savoie, car- 
ried her train. They formed the procession to go to chapel. 
Mgr, le Due de Bourgogne and Mme, la Princesse de Savoie 
inarched before His Majesty; the princes and the princesses 
marched according to their rank. 

" The dresses were magnificent. The king wore a coat of 
cloth of gold, with heavy gold embroidery on the seams, 
Monseigneur was clad in gold brocade, with gold embroidery. 
The suit of Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne was of black velvet, 
with a mantle. The mantle was embroidered in gold and lined 
with cloth of silver, likewise embroidered in gold. He was in 
doublet and hose, and covered with lace (such as was for- 
merly worn), with ribbons in his shoes and plumes in his hat. 
The dress of Mme. la Princesse de Savoie was of cloth of 
silver, embroidered in silver, with a set of rubies and pearls. 
Mgr. le Due d'Anjou and Mgr. le Due de Berry had coats of 
velvet, covered with gold embroidery, and very rich waist- 
coats. The suit of Monsieur was superb. It was of black 
velvet, with buttonholes of heavy gold embroidery and but- 
tons of large diamonds. His waistcoat was of cloth of gold, 
and the rest of his costume was of the same richness. M. le 
Due de Chartres had a coat of gray velvet embroidered ip- 
gold, and enriched with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. M. 
le Prince^ and M. le Duc^ had costumes of great beauty= 
That of M. le Prince was of black velvet, embroidered in gold 
with a very fine embroidery and marked on the seams with 
one heavier and more rich. M. le Due du Maine and M. le 

^ Henri- Jules de Bourbon, Prince de Conde. 
' Louis III, Due de Bourbon, son of the former. 

375 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

Comte de Toulouse had also magnificent suits. Madame,^ 
Mme. la Duchesse de Chartres,^ and Mme. la Duchesse ^ had 
dresses in much the same style, that is to say, the most beau-, 
tiful cloths of gold, embroidered in gold as heavily and richly 
as possible. Their head-dresses and their persons were cov- 
ered with jewels. The dress of Mademoiselle ^ was gener- 
ally admired. It was of green velvet, covered with gold em- 
broidery in exquisite taste, with a set of diamonds and rubies. 
Mme. la Princesse de Conti had also a dress of green velvet, 
with magnificent gold embroidery, and many jewels. The 
dress of Mile, de Conde^ was of carnation-colored velvet, 
embroidered in gold and silver, with a quantity of jewels. 
A large number of the lords and ladies had dresses not at all 
inferior to those mentioned. The ladies who were no longer 
young were clad in black velvet, with very beautiful petti- 
coats embroidered in gold, and were adorned with diamonds. 
" The court in this magnificence passed through the grand 
gallery and the state apartments, descended the grand stair- 
case,^ and entered the chapel.''^ The crowd of spectators was 
very great throughout all the apartments, but they kept very 
good order in the chapel. Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne and 
Mme. la Princesse de Savoie knelt on cushions at the steps of 
the altar. M. le Cardinal de Coislin performed the ceremony 
of the betrothing, which was followed by that of the mar- 
riage, and in both these ceremonies Mgr. le Due de Bour- 
gogne turned toward the king and Monseigneur to ask their 
consent ; and Mme. la Princesse de Savoie did the same, and 
turned as well toward Monsieur and Madame to ask also their 

^ The Duchesse d'Orleans, the * Elizabeth - Charlotte d'Orleans, 

Palatine. daughter of Monsieur. 

' Daughter of the king and Ma- ' Anne-Louise de Bourbon, died 

dame de Montespan. in 1700. 

^ The Duchesse de Bourbon, " The ambassadors' staircase, 

daughter of the king and Mon- ^ The third chapel on the site of 

tespan. the salon of Hercules. 

37^ 



The Fetes 

consent. Mgr, le Due de Bourgogne placed a ring on the 
finger of the Princesse de Savoie, and presented her with 
thirteen pieces of gold. Then M. le Cardinal began the mass. 
At the offertory, Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne and Mme. la 
Princesse de Savoie went to the offering, after having made 
the usual reverences to the altar, to the king, and to Mon- 
seigneur. M. le Marquis de Blainville presented to Mgr. le 
Due de Bourgogne a wax taper and ten louis d'or, and M. des 
Granges did the same to Mme. la Princesse de Savoie, with 
an equal number of louis. The canopy was held by M. I'Abbe 
de Coislin, called from the bishopric of Metz, first almoner in 
reversion, and by M. I'Abbe Morel, almoner of the king. 
After the mass, the king signed the register of the parish; 
then Mgr. le Dauphin, Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne and Mme. 
la Duchesse de Bourgogne, Mgr. le Due d'Anjou, Mgr. le 
Due de Berry, Monsieur and Madame, M. le Due and Mme. 
la Duchesse de Chartres, M. le Prince and Mme. la Prin- 
cesse, and the other princes and princesses.^ 

" They left the chapel in the same order as that in which 
they had entered, and returned by the grand staircase, the 
apartments, and the gallery, to the chamber of Mme. la 
Duchesse de Bourgogne, from which they passed into her 
antechamber.2 His Majesty dined there at a table of horse- 
shoe shape, at which were placed according to their rank Mgr. 
le Dauphin, Mgr. le Due and Mme. la Duchesse de Bour- 
gogne, Mgr. le Due d'Anjou, Mgr. le Due de Berry, Mon- 
sieur, Madame, M. le Due de Chartres, Mme. la Duchesse de 
Chartres, Mademoiselle, Mme. la Grande Duchesse,^ and M. 

*"The registers of the parish of habitants of the town." Dussieux, 

Notre Dame are preserved to-day I, 171. 

in the town-hall at Versailles. The ' The queen's antechamber, 

baptisms, marriages, and deaths of ' Marguerite - Louise d'Orleans, 

the royal family of France are daughter of Gaston, Due d'Orleans. 

inscribed in these registers sim- uncle of Louis XIV; married to 

ply with those of the other in- the Grand Duke of Tuscany. 

377 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

le Prince, Mme. la Princesse, M. ie Due and Mme. la 
Duchesse, Mme. la Princesse de Conti, Mile, de Conde, M. le 
Due du Maine, M. le Comte de Toulouse, and Mme. la 
Duchesse de Verneuil.^ 

"Upon leaving table, they returned to the chamber of Mme. 
la Duchesse de Bourgogne, where the king remained but a 
moment, and then went to his apartments, always more oc- 
cupied with affairs of state than with pleasures, even in the 
grandest fetes. Toward six in the evening, the ambassador 
of Savoy, with a numerous suite, came to compliment the 
princess upon her marriage, and to present to her some young 
noblemen from Italy. At quarter past seven, Mme. la Duch- 
esse de Bourgogne, followed by a large number of ladies, 
went to the king's apartments, where His Majesty was wait- 
ing for her in the salon,^ to receive the King and Queen of 
England, who arrived a moment after. They entered into 
the gallery, which was lighted by three lines of lusters and a 
large number of candelabra. From the gallery they passed 
into the chamber or portiqiie,^ where they played for about an 
hour ; at the end of which, the king, the King and Queen of 
England, and all the court, went to the salon,^ at the end of 
the gallery, looking toward the Orangery, to see the fireworks 
which had been prepared at the end of the Swiss Lake. They 

^ Charlotte Seguier, widow of that he marched in front of the 

Henri de Bourbon, Due de Ver- duchess, crying out, as loud as he 

neuil, natural son of Henri IV. could, ' Place, place, for Madame 

" The princes and princesses of the Charlotte Seguier ! ' " Saint-Simon, 

blood were placed at the left and I, p. i8. 

right, according to their rank, ter- ^ To-day the bedchamber of Louis 

minated by the two illegitimate XIV. 

children of the king, and for the ^ Portique was a game introduced 

first time, after them, the Duchesse at court about 1689. The players 

de Verneuil ; so that M. de Ver- spun a ball about a portico, into 

neuil, illegitimate son of Henri IV, which it rolled through one of the 

became thus ' prince of the blood ' openings, and stopped on a number, 

so many years after his death, with- the value of which decided the gain 

out having suspected it. The Due or loss. 

d'Uzes thought this so amusing * The salon of Peace. 



The Fetes 

did not have a theater arranged in the usual manner for the 
fireworks, but had placed them all round the water, and espe- 
cially at the further end, upon a kind of natural amphi- 
theater ; and everything was arranged so as to form arches of 
fire over the water, at the sides of which an immense number 
of lamps in earthen pots made a parterre of light. But the 
wind and the rain, which came about that time, injured the 
spectacle. 

" All the court passed then to the chamber of Mme. la 
Duchesse de Bourgogne, which was brilliantly lighted, and in 
which, the day before, they had set up a magnificent bed and 
canopy of green velvet, embroidered in gold and silver. The 
court saw there, also, the toilette of the princess, which was 
much admired, both for its articles of gold and silver and for 
its embroidery and lace. 

" They went to table, and the king supped, with the King 
and Queen of England, and with the same persons, and in the 
same apartment, as at dinner. During the supper, they placed 
in the grand cabinet of Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne the 
toilette of Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne, which in richness and 
good taste, lace and embroidery, made it difficult to decide as 
to which of the two toilettes the preference should be given. 

" After the supper, the grand master and the master of 
ceremonies went to seek M. le Cardinal de Coislin, who was 
to pronounce the benediction of the bed. Mgr. le Due de 
Bourgogne undressed in the cabinet where they had placed his 
toilette, and at the same time Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne 
was undressed, after they had made all the persons leave her 
bedchamber who ought not to remain. The King of Eng- 
land presented the shirt to Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne, and 
the Queen of England the chemise to Mme. la Duchesse de 
Bourgogne, who gave her garters and her bouquet to Made- 
moiselle.^ As soon as Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne was 
^Mlle. d'Orleans, daughter of Monsieur. 

379 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

in bed, the king summoned Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne, who 
entered the chamber in his dressing-gown, his cap in his hand, 
and his hair tied behind with a red ribbon, and placed himself 
in bed on the right side. The curtains at the foot of the bed 
were closed, but those at the sides remained half open. The 
king summoned the ambassador of Savoy, and said to him 
that he could now testify that he had seen the married couple 
in bed together. The king and the King and Queen of Eng- 
land retired, but Monseigneur remained in the chamber. A 
moment after, Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne rose, passed into 
the grand cabinet, where he dressed again, and returned to 
his own apartments to go to bed.^ 

" On Sunday, the 8th, at six in the evening, there was an 
assembly in the grand cabinet of Mme. la Duchesse de Bour- 
gogne, where were a very large number of princesses and 
duchesses, magnificently attired. The king came at seven 
o'clock. They passed then to the state apartments, where 
they had music, play,- and a splendid collation. Mme. la 
Duchesse de Bourgogne wore on that day a dress of red vel- 
vet, embroidered in gold, with a set of diamonds. 

" Monday, the 9th, the fete of the Conception of the Virgin, 
the king and all the court heard the sermon of Pere Bourda- 
loue, and vespers. Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne ap- 
peared for the first time at chapel in her new rank. She wore 
that day a dress of black velvet, with a set of diamonds, and a 
petticoat of cloth of gold, embroidered in gold. 

" Tuesday, the loth, the Prince of Wales and the Princess 
of England ^ came at three o'clock to visit Mme. la Duchesse 
de Bourgogne, who wore that day a dress of rose-colored 
satin, embroidered in silver, with a set of diamonds. They 
went afterward to the apartments of Mgr. le Due de Bour- 
gogne. 

^ On account of their youth, they ' Gambling at portique. 
were not permitted to live together ' The children of James II. 
until two years later. 

380 



The Fetes 

'' On Wednesday, the i ith, there was in the gallery of Ver- 
sailles the largest and most magnificent ball that had ever been 
seen at court. In the center of the gallery, a place, fifty feet 
long and nineteen feet wide, had been arranged for the dan- 
cing, and was surrounded by two rows of seats for the lords 
and ladies. The arm-chair of the king, and those of the 
King and Queen of England, faced the salon of Peace ; and, 
opposite these arm-chairs, the inclosure of the ball had an 
opening six feet wide to permit entrance and exit. In all the 
windows of the gallery there were tiers of seats, covered with 
tapestry. The gallery was lighted by three lines of chande- 
liers, extending from one end to the other : those of the mid- 
dle line had eight branches, and were the largest ; the others 
were of seventeen branches each, but smaller. There were 
also on each side thirty-two candelabra on round, gilded 
tables; but what lighted to the best advantage were eight 
rounded pyramids, ten feet high, composed of eight steps 
rising to a point, and covered with gold gauze, each of which 
held one hundred and fifty candles in silver candlesticks. 
These pyramids rested on square pedestals, four feet high 
and four feet wide, covered with crimson velvet fringed with 
gold. Four of these pyramids were placed at the corners of 
the inclosure of the ball, and the other four at the ends of the 
gallery, at the sides of the doorways leading to the salons, 
which, in their turn, were lighted by five lusters each, and by 
four candelabra on gilded tables. In the three doors of the 
salon of the private apartments of the king, which open into 
the center of the gallery, there were tiers of seats for the 
violins and hautboys, but these seats did not jut out into the 
gallery. 

" Before four o'clock all the seats in the windows were 
filled with the crowd, and between six and seven the noblemen 
and ladies of the court assembled in the apartments of Mme. 
la Duchesse de Bourgogne. It would be impossible to de- 

381 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

scribe the richness and diversity of the dresses. Monseigneur 
wore a coat of cloth of gold, embroidered in silver. Mgrs. les 
Dues de Bourgogne, d'Anjoii, and de Berry were in coats 
of velvet, heavily embroidered in gold. That of Mgr. le Due 
de Bourgogne was black, with many diamonds. Monsieur 
wore the same costume as on the day of the marriage, black 
velvet with buttonholes embroidered in gold and large dia- 
mond buttons. That of M. le Due de Chartres was rich and 
elegant ; it was of gold brocade. The lords, who were in great 
number, had coats of velvet richly embroidered, or brocades. 
Some had simple coats, but the large majority had coats cov- 
ered with gold and silver embroidery. They had very rich 
shoulder-knots, their sleeves were covered with gold and sil- 
ver lace, and their gloves were trimmed with the same ; their 
silk stockings were embroidered in gold, and their shoes were 
adorned with ribbons. The dresses of the ladies were not less 
splendid. That of Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne was of 
cloth of gold, with a trimming of diamonds, in which, as in 
her head-dress, were the most beautiful diamonds of the 
crown. Madame, Mme. la Duchesse de Chartres, Mademoi- 
selle, Mme. la Duchesse, Mme. la Princesse de Conti, and 
Mile, de Conde, all had dresses rivaling one another in beauty 
and richness. All the ladies at the ball were in cloths of gold 
or silver, or in velvets of all colors, and covered with jewels. 

" The king came at seven o'clock into the chamber of Mme. 
la Duchesse de Bourgogne. He was clad in black velvet, em- 
broidered everywhere with very fine and delicate gold em- 
broidery, and on the seams with one heavier and richer, and 
with diamond buttons. The King and Queen of England ar- 
rived shortly after. The queen was richly clad in cloth of 
gold. They passed into the gallery, and the ball commenced. 
Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne opened it by the hranle,^ taking 

^ A solemn stately dance, in which the dancers repeated what 
was done by the two who opened the branle. 

382 



The Fetes 

Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, and when the hranle was 
finished, they danced together the first courante} Mme. la 
Duchesse de Bourgogne took Mgr. le Due d'Anjou, and he 
took Mme. la Duchesse de Chartres, who took Mgr. le Due de 
Berry, who in his turn took Mademoiselle, and the others fol- 
lowed in order and according to rank. 

" As the number of dancers was very large, many of those 
who were named could not dance at all, owing to the fact that 
there were not enough ladies. Mme. la Duchesse de Bour- 
gogne was much admired in the minuet and in the passepied.^ 
They danced frequently with four persons in the minuet, and 
at the end with a larger number. 

" At eight o'clock the king asked for the collation, which 
was brought in on twelve tables, covered with moss and ver- 
dure, on which in compartments were all kinds of fruits and 
sweetmeats, surrounded by flowers. They were brought into 
the inclosure of the ball, and when all together they formed a 
fragrant parterre, in which were four orange-trees. The 
tables were then separated, and, being on wheels, were pushed, 
one after another, around the inclosure of the ball. Valets 
brought also an immense number of baskets full of packages 
of sweetmeats, and trays full of liqueurs and ices. After the 
collation had been entirely ' pillaged,' the valets removed all 
traces of it, and the ball was continued until half-past ten. 
When it was finished, the king and Their Britannic Majesties 
entered the private apartments of His Majesty, where supper 
was served in the antechamber. The lords and ladies left the 
gallery by way of the apartments of Mme. la Duchesse de 
Bourgogne. The king's table was of horseshoe shape, as on 
the day of the marriage. It was filled by His Majesty, the 
King and Queen of England, Monseigneur, Mgr. le Due and 
Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, Mgrs. les Dues d'Anjou 

^ This was more of a stately march, full of graceful poses, than a dance. 
^A very rapid dance. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

and de Berry, Monsieur and Madame, M. and Madame de 
Chartres, Mademoiselle, Mme. la Duchesse, and Mme. la 
Princesse de Conti. After supper, the King and Queen of 
England returned to St. Germain, and every one retired. 

" On the following Saturday, the 14th of December, there 
was another large ball, which began later than the preceding 
one, because they did not have supper until midnight. The 
crowd of spectators had been so great at the first ball that peo- 
ple of rank had had hardly sufficient room to dance. Mme. 
la Duchesse de Bourgogne wore on this evening a dress of 
black velvet all covered with diamonds. Her hair was wound 
with pearls, and her head-dress and corsage were so full of 
diamonds ^ that she was so dazzling that one could hardly 
look at her. The greater part of the princesses of the royal 
family wore on that evening dresses of black velvet. Madame 
was decked with rubies and diamonds, and her petticoat was 
of gold brocade. Mme. la Duchesse de Chartres was in 
black velvet, trimmed on all the seams with diamonds. The 
dress of Mademoiselle was of black velvet, laced with dia- 
monds and pearls. All the head-dresses were covered with 
jewels. The princes were not less magnificent. . . . Nothing 
more brilliant had been seen. In the gallery and the adjoin- 
ing apartments there were four or five thousand lights." - 

LA FETE DES ROIS 

La Fete des Rois (Twelfth-Night) was celebrated each year 
with pomp. In 1688 there were 70 ladies at the king's sup- 
per, and 90 at the fete of 1693. In 1698 the king did not wish 
to celebrate les Rois at Versailles on account of the large 
number of ladies whom he would have been obliged to invite. 
A list had been made of 407, of whom the king would have 

*The king had given to the jewels, valued at 11,333,000 livres 
Duchesse de Bourgogne, shortly (about $12,000,000 to-day), 
before her marriage, all the crown " Le Mercure Galant. 1697. 



The Fetes 

been obliged to ask at least 200. The fete, therefore, was 
held at Marly. The fete of 1708 had special brilliancy. 

" A little before ten o'clock," says Dangeau, " the king 
went to the apartments of Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, 
where were the King of England ^ and the princess his sister, 
the princesses and ladies of the court. They entered the gal- 
lery, which was most brilliantly illuminated with more than 
2000 large candles, and from the gallery they passed into the 
grand antechamber ^ of the king. They found there four 
tables of eighteen covers each. The king held the first, where 
were the King of England, the princess his sister, and Mme. 
la Duchesse de Bourgogne. Monseigneur presided over the 
second, Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne over the third, and Mgr. le 
Due de Berry over the fourth. After supper, they returned 
to the gallery, and passed to the state apartments of the king, 
where there was a magnificent ball in the salon of Mars, in 
the tribunes of which were the violins and hautboys. The 
courtiers entered from the salon of Diana; the king and the 
great officers of the crown, from the salon of Mercury. 
There were many there who had never before had the honor 
of dancing before the king. The king remained at the ball 
until half-past one in the morning; Monseigneur remained 
until the end." ^ 

The Mercure completes the account of Dangeau by fur- 
nishing further details of the same fete : " Seventy-two Swiss 
of the Cent-Suisses of His Majesty were chosen to serve the 
four tables in the king's antechamber, and to avoid confu- 
sion, that each one might know to what table he was to carry 
the plates given to him, the four companies of Swiss had rib- 
bons of different colors, corresponding to the colors of the 
tables, so that no confusion occurred. They had summoned 
many controllers of the Maison du Roi for the meats, and 

^ In 1708, the son of James II ; so ° The CEil-de-Boeuf. 

called at Versailles. ' Dangeau, VI, p. 274. 



25 



385 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

there were two at each table to carve. . . . While the 
* queens ' drank, they followed the ancient custom, and cries 
of ' The queen drinks ! ' were heard on all sides. As it some- 
times happened that two or three ' queens ' were drinking at 
the same moment, the noise was increased, but always very 
agreeable, with the sounds of clapping of hands, or the strik- 
ing of a dish or glass with a fork, in accordance with the cere- 
mony. ... At the ball, in the salon of Mars, the inclosure 
for the dancing was in the form of a square, with arm-chairs 
at one side for the king and for the King of England, and 
stools and benches for the courtiers. At either end of the 
salon, and in the windows, were raised seats for the spec- 
tators. The officers of the music and the musicians were in 
the marble tribunes; and the salon was lighted by twelve 
lusters and many candelabra. . . . The princess of England 
was in what is now called grand habit; it was of yellow vel- 
vet, and covered with jewels, both petticoat and train. The 
dress of Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne was of black velvet, 
and her petticoat was covered with many jewels. The two 
princesses had very beautiful head-dresses. All the ladies 
were in different-colored velvets, with diamonds. The ball 
was opened by the King of England and the princess his sis- 
ter. People noticed that the first time that His Britannic 
Majesty rose to dance, the king rose also, and remained stand- 
ing as long as that prince danced. All the princes, prin- 
cesses, and the other persons who danced, saluted Their Maj- 
esties before beginning to dance. . . . The king left the 
ball at one o'clock. The collation, which was brought in 
some time after, was first presented to all the circle, and then 
to the spectators. The ball began again after the collation, 
and continued until four o'clock in the morning. At the close 
of the ball, His Britannic Majesty and the princess his sister 
returned to St. Germain. The Body-Guards, the Cent- 

386 



The Fetes 

Suisses, and the French Guards were under arms, and their 
drums beat the salute, as is customary whenever Their Bri- 
tannic Majesties come to the king's palace." 

THE CARNIVAL 

At the time of the carnival many fancy-dress balls and 
masquerades were held nearly every year. The Mercure 
describes the carnival of 1683 • " There have been this winter 
five balls in five different apartments at Versailles, all so grand 
and so beautiful that no other royal house in the world can 
show the like. Entrance was given to masks only, and no 
persons presented themselves without being disguised, unless 
they were of very high rank. . . . People invent grotesque 
disguises, they revive old fashions, they choose the most 
ridiculous things, and seek to make them as amusing as pos- 
sible. . . . Mgr. le Dauphin changed his disguise eight or ten 
times each evening. M. Berain had need of all his wit to 
furnish these disguises, and of all his ingenuity to get them 
made up, since there was so little time from one ball to an- 
other. The prince did not wish to be recognized, and all 
sorts of extraordinary disguises were invented for him; fre- 
quently under the figures that concealed him, one could not 
have told whether the person thus masked was tall or short, 
fat or thin. Sometimes he had double masks, and under the 
first a mask of wax so well made that, when he took off his 
first mask, people fancied they saw the natural face, and he 
deceived everybody. Nothing can equal the enjoyment which 
Mgr. le Dauphin takes in all these diversions, nor the rapidity 
with which he changes his disguises. He leaves all his 
officers without being fatigued, although he works harder at 
dressing and undressing himself than they do, and he dances 
much. This prince shows in the least things, in his horse- 
manship, and in the ardor with which he follows the chase, 

387 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

what pleasure he will take some day in commanding armies. 
But could one expect less from the son of Louis le Grand ! ^ 

" The first of the five balls was given by M. le Grand,^ in 
his apartments in the new wing of Versailles.^ The ball com- 
menced with a masquerade. They danced a minuet and a 
jig; but only Mile, de Nantes^ danced in the latter. The 
minuet was danced by Miles. d'Armagnac, d'Uzes, and de 
Grignan. Mile, de Nantes was especially admired when she 
danced, and made so great an impression that people stood on 
chairs to see her better. Mgr. le Dauphin came to the masque- 
rade with M. le Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon and many other 
nobles. He was in a sedan-chair, accompanied by a number 
of merry-andrews and dwarfs. He changed his disguise 
four or five times during the ball, which lasted until four 
o'clock in the morning. . . . The second ball was given by 
Mgr. le Dauphin in the hall of his Guards, which forms the 
entrance to his apartments. M. le Due gave the third, which 
was magnificent. Some days after it was the turn of the 
Cardinal de Bouillon to receive the court." 

One carnival was much like another, in spite of the diver- 
sity of the disguises. On the 24th of February, 1699, there 
were 3000 masks at St. Cloud at a ball given by Monsieur. 
The winter of 1700 was very gay. 

" From just before Candlemas day to Easter of this year 
(1700)," says Saint-Simon, " nothing was heard of but balls 
and pleasures of the court. The king gave at Versailles and 
Marly several masquerades, by which he was much amused, 
under pretext of amusing the Duchesse de Bourgogne. At 
one of these balls at Marly a ridiculous scene occurred. 
Dancers were wanting, and Madame de Luxembourg on ac- 

^ This little panegyric, in very ^ The south wing of the chateau, 

good taste when it was written, is * Daughter of Louis XIV and 

now quite ridiculous. Monseigneur Madame de Montespan; later, 

never fulfilled such hopes. Duchesse de Bourbon. 



' The grand equerry. 



388 



The Fetes 

count of this obtained an invitation, but with great difficulty, 
for she hved in such a fashion that no woman would see her. 
M. de Luxembourg was perhaps the only person in France 
who was ignorant of Madame de Luxembourg's conduct. 
He lived with his wife on apparently good terms, and as 
though he had not the slightest mistrust of her. On this oc- 
casion, because of the want of dancers, the king made older 
people dance than was customary, and among others M. de 
Luxembourg. Everybody was compelled to be masked. 
M. de Luxembourg spoke on this subject to M. le Prince, 
who, malicious as any monkey, determined to divert all the 
court and himself at the duke's expense. He invited M. de 
Luxembourg to supper, and after that meal was over, masked 
him according to his fancy. 

" Soon after my arrival at the ball, I saw a figure strangely 
clad in long flowing muslin, and with a head-dress on which 
were fixed the horns of a stag, so high that they became en- 
tangled in the chandelier. Of course everybody was much 
astonished at so strange a sight, and all thought that that 
mask must be very sure of his wife to deck himself so. Sud- 
denly the mask turned round and showed us M. de Luxem- 
bourg. The burst of laughter at this was scandalous. Good 
M. de Luxembourg, who was never very remarkable for wit, 
benignly took all this laughter as having been excited simply 
by the singularity of his costume, and to the questions ad- 
dressed to him replied quite simply that his dress had been 
arranged by M. le Prince ; then, turning to the right and to the 
left, he admired himself and strutted with pleasure at having 
been masked by M. le Prince. In a moment more the ladies 
arrived, and the king immediately after them. The laughter 
commenced anew as loudly as ever, and M. de Luxembourg 
presented himself to the company with a confidence that was 
ravishing. His wife had heard nothing of this masquerad- 
ing, and when she saw it, lost countenance, brazen as she was. 

389 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

Everybody stared at her and her husband, and seemed dying 
of laughter. M. le Prince looked at the scene from behind 
the king, and laughed inwardly at his malicious trick. This 
amusement lasted throughout all the ball, and the king, self- 
contained as he usually was, laughed also. People were never 
tired of admiring an invention so cruelly ridiculous, and 
spoke of it for several days. 

" No evening passed on which there was not a ball. The 
chancellor's wife gave one which was a fete the most gallant 
and the most magnificent possible. There were different 
rooms for the fancy-dress ball, for the masqueraders, for a 
superb collation, for shops of all countries, Chinese, Japan- 
ese, etc., where many singular and beautiful things were sold, 
but no money taken ; they were presents for the Duchesse de 
Bourgogne and the ladies. Everybody was especially di- 
verted at this entertainment, which did not finish until eight 
o'clock in the morning. Madame de Saint-Simon and I 
passed the last three weeks of this time without ever seeing 
the day. Certain dancers were allowed to leave off dancing 
only at the same time as the Duchesse de Bourgogne. One 
morning at Marly, when I wished to escape too early, the 
duchess caused me to be forbidden to pass the doors of the 
salon ; several of us had the same fate. I was delighted when 
Ash Wednesday arrived, and I remained a day or two dead- 
beat. Madame de Saint- Simon could not get over Shrove 
Tuesday." 

The fete to which Saint-Simon alludes was given by Ma- 
dame de Pontchartrain, the wife of the Chancellor of France, 
in the Hotel de la Chancellerie, Rue de la Chancellerie, Ver- 
sailles, on the 8th of February, 1700. It was the most elabo- 
rate fete held outside of the palace. The Mercure describes 
the fete in detail : 

" Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, learning that Mme. la 
Chanceliere wished to give her a ball, received the proposition 

390 



The Fetes 

with much joy. Although there were but eight days in which 
to prepare for it, Mme. la Chanceliere resolved to give the 
princess in one evening all the diversions that people usually 
take during all the carnival period — namely, comedy, fair, 
and ball. When the evening came, detachments of Swiss 
were posted in the street and in the courtyard, with many 
servants of Mme. la Chanceliere, so that there was no confu- 
sion at the gates or in the court, which was brightly lighted 
with torches. . . . People saw in the ball-room a large por- 
trait of Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, above the fireplace. 
The ball-room was lighted by ten chandeliers and by magnifi- 
cent, gilded candelabra. At one end, on raised seats, were 
the musicians, hautboys and violins, in fancy dress with 
plumed caps. In front of the velvet-covered benches for the 
courtiers were three arm-chairs, one for Mme. la Duchesse de 
Bourgogne, and the others for Monsieur and Madame. On 
account of a slight indisposition, Monsieur was not present, 
but Madame came, without being masked. Beyond the ball- 
room, across the landing of the staircase, was another hall, 
brilliantly lighted, in which were hautboys and violins, and 
this hall was for the masks, who came in such numbers that 
the ball-room could not have contained them all. 

" On alighting from her carriage, Mme. la Duchesse de 
Bourgogne was received by M. le Chancelier, Mme. la Chan- 
celiere, and their son, M. le Comte de Pontchartrain, and by 
many of their friends and relatives. . . . Mme. la Duchesse 
de Bourgogne was conducted to the ball-room. Monseigneur, 
Mgrs. les Dues de Bourgogne and de Berry, and all the 
princesses, all masked, arrived almost at the same time, and 
having received them, M. le Chancelier left the other honors 
to Mme. la Chanceliere. . . . After remaining about an hour 
at the ball, Mme. la Chanceliere and the Comte de Pontchar- 
train conducted Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne into another 
hall, filled with lights and mirrors, where a theater had been 

391 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

erected to furnish the diversion of a comedy. Only about 
one hundred people were allowed to enter the hall of comedy, 
and the princes and princesses of the blood, being masked, 
took no rank there. Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne and 
Madame had arm-chairs in the center of the hall. The 
Duchesse de Bourgogne was surprised to see a splendid 
theater, adorned with her arms and monogram. . . . As 
soon as the princess was seated, Bari, the famous mountebank 
of Paris, came forward and asked her protection against the 
doctors, and having extolled the excellence of his remedies, 
and the marvels of his secrets, he offered to the princess as a 
little diversion a comedy such as they sometimes played at 
Paris. There was given then a little comedy which Mme. la 
Chanceliere had gotten M. Dancourt to write expressly for 
that fete. All the actors were from the company of the 
comedians of the king. They played to perfection, and re- 
ceived much praise. ... At the end of the comedy, Mme. la 
Duchesse de Bourgogne was conducted into another hall, 
where a superb collation had been prepared in an ingenious 
manner. At one end of the hall, in a half-circle, were five 
booths, in which were merchants, clad in the costumes of dif- 
ferent countries; a French pastry-cook, a seller of oranges 
and lemons, an Italian lemonade-seller, a seller of sweetmeats, 
a vendor of coffee, tea, and chocolate. They were from the 
king's musicians, and sung their wares, accompanied by 
music, at the sides of the booths, and had pages to serve the 
guests. The booths were splendidly painted and gilded, 
adorned with lusters and flowers, and bore the arms and 
cipher of Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne. At the back of 
each booth a large mirror reflected the whole. . . . The 
Duchesse de Bourgogne left this hall, after the collation, de- 
lighted with all that she had seen and heard. Since the ball- 
room was so crowded with masks, the princess returned to the 
hall of comedy, where they held a smaller court ball until two 

392 



The Fetes 

o'clock, when she went to the grand ball to see the masks. 
She was much amused there until four in the morning. When 
Mme. la Chanceliere and the Comte de Pontchartrain con- 
ducted her to the foot of the staircase, she thanked them much 
for the pleasure they had given her. This fete brought many- 
congratulations to Mme. la Chanceliere." ^ 

TOURNAMENTS AT THE GREAT STABLES 

On several occasions tournaments were held in the riding- 
school of the Great Stables at Versailles. Dangeau, under 
date of June 4th and 5th, describes the tournament of 1685 : 

" The king and Mme. la Dauphine ^ dined at an early hour, 
and on leaving table, the king and Monseigneur entered a 
carriage. Mme. la Dauphine and many ladies followed in 
other carriages. In the court of the ministers, they found 
all the cavaliers of the tournament drawn up in two lines ; the 
pages and lackeys were there also. Monseigneur mounted a 
horse at the head of one company ; M. le Due de Bourbon was 
at the head of the other. The king went to take his seat in 
the place prepared for him. 

" The cavaliers first rode round the courtyard of the 
chateau, passing under the windows of the young Due de 
Bourgogne, who was on the balcony. Then they rode out of 
the gate and down the Avenue de Paris, and entered the rid- 
ing-school of the Great Stables by a gate made near the 
Kennels. After riding in procession before the raised seats 
of the court, they took their posts, twenty cavaliers in each 
corner, with their pages and grooms behind them ; the drums 
and trumpets at the barrier. The subject of the tournament 
was the wars of Granada, and the cavaliers represented the 
Spaniards and the Moors. Monseigneur rode a tilt with the 
Due de Bourbon, and MM. de Vendome and de Brionne rode 
at the same time to make the figure. . . . There were three 
^ Le Mercure, 1700. ^ The wife of Monseigneur. 

393 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

courses run for the prize, which was won by the Prince de 
Lorraine. It was a sword ornamented with diamonds, and 
he received it from the hand of the king. After the tourna- 
ment all the cavaliers conducted the king to the courtyard of 
the chateau, lance in hand, and the heads of the companies 
saluted him with their swords. 

" On the 5th, a second tournament was held, and in spite 
of the bad weather, the king found it more beautiful than the 
first. Many ladies were present. The Russian envoys, who 
had not seen the previous fete, occupied seats at the king's 
right. During a shower, the spectators retired quickly, but 
as soon as it had passed, all the seats were filled again. The 
Marquis de Plumartin won the prize. It was a sword adorned 
with diamonds, but more costly than that won by the Prince 
de Lorraine." ^ 

* Dangeau, I. 



394 



XIV 
THE CEREMONIES 

IN 1685 the King of France was at the summit of his 
fortunes. Victorious in two wars, he had annexed 
Franche-Comte, Strasburg, and Luxemburg. His 
navy numbered 250 ships, and his army 400,000 men. 
His prestige in Europe was very great. Having broken faith 
in the last war, Genoa had suffered a furious bombardment by 
the fleet of Duquesne. But the Grand Monarch was not con- 
tent. He demanded that the Doge of Genoa should come to 
Versailles to beg pardon. 

RECEPTION OF THE DOGE OF GENOA 

On the 15th of May, 1685, the Doge Lescari and four sen- 
ators had a public audience with the king, and presented the 
apologies of the Republic of Genoa. The Mercure furnishes 
the best account of that ceremony : 

" Having ascended the magnificent staircase leading to the 
state apartments of His Majesty, the doge and the senators 
passed through them to the salon of War, from which they 
entered the grand gallery, beyond which was the king, in the 
salon of Peace. All the apartments and the gallery were su- 
perbly furnished, and contained silver furniture worth many 
millions. The crowd was equally great throughout, al- 
though these apartments and the gallery can hold as many 
people as the largest palace. In spite of the efforts taken to 
keep a passage free, the doge had much difficulty in crossing 

395 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

the gallery. M. le Marechal Due de Duras, captain of the 
Body-Guards on duty, accompanied him to the foot of the 
throne. It was of silver, and raised only two steps from the 
floor. Monseigneur and Monsieur were at either side of the 
king, and His Majesty was surrounded by all the princes of 
the blood and the great officers of the crown. The suite of 
the doge, being numerous, did not approach the throne, but 
remained in the gallery. The doge, when he saw the king, 
and perceived that he could be recognized, uncovered. Then 
advancing some steps, he made two profound reverences to 
His Majesty, and at the same time the senators did likewise. 
The king rose, and replied to these reverences by slightly 
raising his hat; after which he made a sign for the doge to 
approach, calling him with his hand. The doge mounted 
the first step of the throne, where he made a third reverence, 
as did the four senators behind him. The king and the doge 
then covered themselves, and all the princes put on their hats 
likewise, but the senators remained uncovered." . . . (On ac- 
count of its length, the speech of the doge will be omitted.) 
" Each time that His Majesty's name was mentioned in the 
speech, the doge and the king uncovered, and all the princes 
uncovered also; and this occurred a number of times. The 
king replied to the doge that ' he was satisfied with the sub- 
mission made by the Republic of Genoa; that he was sorry 
he had had occasion to make his displeasure break out against 
her, but that he was happy to see affairs as they now were, be- 
cause he believed it was the beginning of very friendly rela- 
tions ; that he saw in it the promise of good faith on the part 
of the Republic of Genoa ; and since he had a high esteem for 
Genoa, he would give on every occasion marks of the return 
of his favor.' In regard to the doge, His Majesty spoke of 
his personal merit with much graciousness, letting him know 
the particular esteem in which he held him. After the 
response of the king, the four senators paid their compliments, 

396 



The Ceremonies 



each in turn, and His Majesty replied to each very graciously, 
and especially to M. Salvago, who had lived for a number of 
years in France as envoy of Genoa. 

" At the conclusion of the audience, the king saluted the 
doge, lowering his hat more than he had when His Serenity 
arrived. The doge and the senators made three profound 
reverences as they retired. When they reentered the gallery, 
they covered themselves. They returned in the same order, 
finding everywhere such a crowd that they had some diffi- 
culty in reaching the apartment where tables were spread for 
them. All the court and all the people who filled Versailles 
soon learned that the king was pleased with the doge, and that 
the doge was charmed with the king's manner toward him. 
Nothing else was talked of throughout the day. The king, at 
his dinner, spoke very highly of the doge in the presence of 
the court, saying that he had found him well bred and intel- 
lectual, without any embarrassment; that he had displayed 
courage in his misfortune, and no servility; that the part he 
had had to perform was not an easy one, but that he had ac- 
quitted himself in a manner meriting applause." ^ 

RECEPTION OF THE AMBASSADORS OF SIAM 

On the 1st of September, 1686, Louis gave audience in the 
gallery of Versailles to an embassy from Siam. Dangeau's 
account of the ceremony is as follows : " The king gave 
audience to the ambassadors of Siam upon a throne raised at 
the end of the gallery, next to the salon of Peace. The order 
was beautiful ; and His Majesty congratulated M. d'Aumont, 
first gentleman of the Chamber. The ambassadors spoke 
very well. The Abbe de Lyonne served them as interpreter. 
They remained at the foot of the throne, until the moment 
when they presented to the king the letter of their master; 
they mounted then to the top step. The Siamese showed 
^ The Mercure, 1685. 

397 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

profound respect, and, after their fashion, went to the end of 
the gallery on their hands and knees, not wishing to turn 
their backs to the king. There were three ambassadors, four 
noblemen, and two secretaries; the rest of their suite were 
servants." ^ 

The Marquis de Sourches gives the king's costume on this 
occasion: "His Majesty wore a coat of cloth of gold, laced 
with large diamonds." ^ 

THE CEREMONY OF THE WASHING ON HOLY THURSDAY 

Each year on Holy Thursday the king washed the feet of the 
poor in the Grand Hall of the Guards at Versailles. This was 
a part of the ceremony of the Lord's Supper (Cene). 

" The ceremony at present observed at court on Holy 
Thursday is as follows. On the Wednesday before, during 
Tenehrcs, at which His Majesty assists, one of the almoners 
and the first doctor of the king, followed by surgeons and 
barbers, go to a place where a large number of poor children 
have been -assembled. Out of the number they choose thir- 
teen, the most agreeable, who are examined by the first doctor, 
surgeons, and barbers of the king to see if they are healthy, 
to make sure they have no sores on their bodies, and espe- 
cially on their legs and feet. Being found in proper con- 
dition to be presented on the following day, Holy Thursday, 
before the king for the ceremony of the washing of feet, the 
names of the children are written down by the almoner, who 
gives the list to the treasurer of the king's alms and presents, 
and the treasurer gives the orders necessary for the cere- 
mony which belongs to his office. 

" On Holy Thursday, at six in the morning, the thirteen 
children are brought to the Quartermaster's Department, 
where the barber of the Grand Commun cuts their hair and 
their toe-nails. The officers of the Quartermaster's Depart- 

^ Dangeau. ^ Memoirs, II, p. i6i. 



The Ceremonies 



ment wash their feet and legs with warm, perfumed water. 
They are dressed in robes of red cloth, with hoods behind; 
their feet are wrapped up, and they are conducted by their 
fathers and mothers, or by some of their relatives, into the 
hall where the ceremony is held, and are seated on a bench, 
with their backs to the table where the king will serve them, 
and their faces toward the pulpit, where the grand almoner, 
or other prelate chosen to make the service before His 
Majesty, gives the exhortation on the subject of the cere- 
mony. After the exhortation, they sing the Miserere, at the 
end of which the grand almoner, or other prelate, gives abso- 
lution. The king then advances toward the children, kneels 
down, washes the right foot of the first, and does the same to 
the others. The grand almoner of France holds the basin of 
silver-gilt, and one of the almoners on duty holds the foot of 
the child that the king washes, and dries it after him. 

" When the ceremony of the washing is over, the children 
are brought to the other side of the table, where they are 
served by the king, each one receiving thirteen wooden 
plates containing meats, fish, and vegetables, and a little 
jug of wine. All the meats are handed to His Majesty by 
the princes of the blood, or by the great officers who accom- 
pany him. The first maitre d'hotel walks before the king 
with his baton of ceremony. Behind the children there is an 
almoner on duty, who takes the plates as soon as the king 
places them on the table, and who puts them into the baskets 
held by the parents of the children, to whom the plates belong. 
About the neck of each child the king hangs a purse of red 
leather containing thirteen crowns. The treasurer of his 
alms presents the purses to His Majesty. 

" The ceremony being finished, the king goes to mass with 
a grand train of princes, lords, and officers of the court, and at 
the end, with a wax taper in his hand, and followed by the 
same retinue, he accompanies the Holy Sacrament from the 



399 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

altar to the oratory prepared for him, where he makes his 
devotions." ^ 

THE CEREMONY OF TOUCHING FOR THE KING'S EVIL 

At Easter, Whitsunday, All Saints', and Christmas, the king 
touched persons afflicted with scrofula. On the i6th of May, 
1698, the eve of Whitsunday, he touched 3000. The cere- 
mony was as follows. The sick, coming from all parts, some 
even from Spain, were arranged by officers of the king's 
Household, sometimes near the chapel, sometimes in other 
places, as in 1675 when the king touched the sick in the 
Orangery at Versailles. Kneeling in lines, with hands joined, 
they implored the aid of God. After mass His Majesty came, 
accompanied by his grand almoner. The doctors and sur- 
geons were behind the sick, and held the head of each, that 
the king might touch it more easily. Standing before each 
sick person. His Majesty passed his hand across the forehead 
from ear to ear, saying, " The king touches thee, God cures 
thee " ; and giving to each his benediction by the sign of the 
cross. To each one the grand almoner gave alms — 5 sous to 
foreigners, 2 sous to the French. The first maitre d'hotel 
carried a basin of wine and water for the king to wash his 
hands at the end of the ceremony. 

OTHER CEREMONIES 

The ceremony of the Order of St. Esprit was held at New 
Year's, at Candlemas, and at Easter. The chevaliers of the 
order, in gala costume, marched in procession in the court; 
a chapter was held; and finally all were present at a grand 
mass in the chapel. 

The procession each year at Corpus Christi was of great 
magnificence. The courtyards of the chateau were hung with 
^ Du Peyrat, Histoire Ecclesiastique de la Cour, p. 774. 
400 



The Ceremonies 



the finest tapestries of the crown, and were adorned with 
orange-trees, at first in tubs of silver, and later in tubs of 
gilded wood. The procession, leaving the court of the minis- 
ters, traversed the Place d'Armes on its way to the parish 
church of Versailles. The king, with uncovered head, fol- 
lowed on foot, accompanied by more than a thousand pages 
of the Chamber, of the Great and Little Stables, and by Cent- 
Suisses and Body-Guards, all bearing tapers of white wax. 
His Majesty was followed by all the almoners of his House- 
hold, by the priests of the Mission, and by all the court. After 
hearing mass at the parish church, the king returned to the 
chateau in a carriage. 

RECEPTION OF THE AMBASSADOR OF PERSIA 

On the 19th of February, 171 5, the king received a Persian 
ambassador at Versailles. Both Dangeau and Saint-Simon 
have doubts about this ambassador. Dangeau says, 
" Neither he nor his suite merited much attention " ; while 
Saint-Simon declares him to be " a sham Persian ambassador 
whom Pontchartrain had imposed on the king." The matter 
has never been cleared up. One version is that a high Persian 
official had sent a merchant to Paris to conclude some business 
negotiations, and that Pontchartrain made use of this mer- 
chant to cheer the aged and fast-failing king by the idea that 
the days of his apotheosis had come again, that Persia, filled 
with admiration for his glory, had sent him an embassy. If 
so, it was a cruel trick, and frightful irony, to make an old 
man who had once been the terror of Europe, and who had 
preserved his prestige through misfortune, put on his gold 
coat and mount his throne to receive a sham. 

" The king," says Dangeau, " rose at his usual hour. He 
put on a coat of cloth of gold and black velvet, trimmed with 
diamonds worth 12,500,000 livres, and this coat was so 

26 401 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

heavy that the king changed it immediately after dinner. 
Besides the jewels he had on him, the king had given a set of 
diamonds and pearls to the Due du Maine, and a set of colored 
stones to the Comte de Toulouse. The Due d'Orleans had a 
coat of blue velvet, embroidered with pearls and diamonds, 
which was much admired. The Persian ambassador did not 
arrive until eleven o'clock. A little before the ambassador 
came, the king appeared upon the balcony of his chamber, 
and the people who filled the courtyard shouted, ' Vive le 
Roi! ' I think I never heard them shout with more enthu- 
siasm. The shouts came from all the courtyards, and even 
from the Avenue de Paris, which was filled with the crowd as 
far as the house of Bontemps, where the ambassador alighted 
from his carriage and mounted a horse. Neither he nor his 
suite merited much attention. They entered the courtyard 
of the chateau, and alighted at the apartment of the Due de 
Guiche. While they were entering, the king passed into the 
gallery, where on one side there were raised seats, filled with 
more than four hundred ladies, magnificently attired. The 
ladies of the court were nearest to the throne ; the ladies from 
Paris, more toward the end of the gallery. The king, in en- 
tering, had the politeness to pass close to the seats that the 
ladies might see his magnificence to advantage. He mounted 
his throne, where at his right side was Mgr. le Dauphin,^ in a 
dress and cap covered with jewels; Mme. la Duchesse de 
Ventadour held him by the leading-strings. At the king's 
left was Mgr. le Due d'Orleans, and to the right and left all 
the princes of the blood, according to their rank. Mme. la 
Duchesse de Berry, Madame, and all the princesses of the 
blood, with their ladies, were there also. Upon the steps of 
the throne, behind the princes of the blood, were the four first 

* Louis of France, Due d'Anjou, years old. On September i, 171S, 
son of the Due and Duchesse de he became Louis XV. 
Bourgogne. He was then five 

402 



The Ceremonies 



gentlemen of the Chamber and the two masters of the Ward- 
robe. The gallery was filled with courtiers richly dressed, 
and with many strangers. The audience was long." ^ 

On the 13th of August the king gave a farewell audience 
to the same ambassador. " On Tuesday, the 13th of August 
(1715)," says Saint-Simon, "he made a violent effort, and 
gave a farewell audience to a sham Persian ambassador whom 
Pontchartrain had imposed upon him ; this was the last pub- 
lic action of his life. The audience, which was long, fatigued 
the king. He resisted the desire for sleep which came over 
him, held the Finance Council, dined, had himself carried in 
his sedan-chair to the apartments of Madame de Maintenon, 
where a little concert was given. On leaving his cabinet, he 
stopped for the Duchesse de la Rochefoucauld, who presented 
to him the Duchesse de la Rocheguyon, her daughter-in-law, 
who was the last lady presented to him. She took her 
tabouret that evening at the king's grand supper, which was 
the last he ever gave." ^ 

'Dangeau. ''Saint-Simon, II, p. 345. 



403 



XV 
THE THEATER 

NOTWITHSTANDING the fact that theatrical 
performances were given at the court nearly every 
week, there was no regular theater in the chateau 
during the reign of Louis XIV. The opera-house 
of Versailles was constructed in the reign of Louis XV, and 
was opened for the first time in 1770, at the marriage of the 
dauphin and the Archduchess Marie Antoinette. 

Under Louis XIV, performances were given usually in 
temporary theaters, erected in various apartments of the 
palace. Sometimes there were open-air performances in the 
marble courtyard, in the gardens, or at the Great Stables, and 
in the last years of the reign a hall of comedy was con- 
structed on the ground floor, between the south wing and the 
central portion of the chateau, where the vestibule of the 
court of the Princes is at the present time. Temporary 
theaters were also constructed at Trianon and at Marly. 

There were two companies of players, one French, the 
other Italian. Of the latter the greatest actor was Bian- 
colelli, who died in 1688. In 1697 the king sent the Italian 
comedians back to Italy; he found their plays too free, and, 
moreover, they had dared to satirize Madame de Maintenon. 
The French comedians had a narrow escape in 1703. They 
had played a coarse piece before the Duchesse de Bourgogne, 
and the king informed them that if they repeated the fault he 
would drive them away at once. 

404 



The Theater 

"In the month of July, 1682," says the Mercure, "the 
riding-school of the Great Stables was transformed into a 
theater for the performance of one of the best operas of Lulli. 
The king wished to see the new opera Persee, of which Quin- 
ault had written the words, and Lulli the music. It was de- 
cided to prepare a theater in the marble court. The weather, 
which had been bad for some days, suddenly became fine, and 
they profited by that to work actively at the theater ; but on 
the day set for the performance, it rained hard. The king 
ordered a postponement of the spectacle, but the organizers of 
the fete, seeing that the king was annoyed, promised him that 
another theater would be ready that same evening in the rid- 
ing-school of the Great Stables. In short, at eight o'clock, 
the riding-school, in which at noon they had been exercising 
horses, was transformed into a glittering theater. Orchestra, 
dais for the king, tribunes for the spectators, nothing was 
lacking. At the sides of the stage rose a veritable forest of 
orange-trees and trees of all kinds, and an immense number 
of lusters and candelabra furnished the illumination. The 
opera was perfectly executed; and the king, charmed with 
the music, said to Lulli that he had never heard anything 
of the sort which pleased him more. He complimented 
also Mile. La Rochois, the celebrated singer, and Pecourt, the 
dancer." ^ 

On other occasions operas were given in the riding-school 
of the Great Stables. On the 8th of January, 1685, they pro- 
duced for the first time the opera Roland (Quinault and 
Lulli). The king went at six o'clock, and did not leave until 
ten. Having returned to the chateau, he gave a supper in his 
apartments to the royal family and to some ladies. Roland 
was produced five times. On the 5th of March of the same 
year, the opera Armide (Quinault and Lulli) was given in the 
riding-school. The king had not yet seen it, because the first 
' Le Mercure Galant, 1682. 

405 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

performance had taken place in 1683, ^^^ y^^^ o^ the queen's 
death. He found the opera very beautiful. 

Comedies, operas, and ballets were given very frequently 
at Trianon and at Marly. Dangeau mentions the ballet given 
at Trianon in February, 1689 : " On the 7th of February, at 
three in the afternoon, the king, Monseigneur, and the 
princesses went to Trianon. The King and Queen of Eng- 
land arrived shortly after. The two kings talked together, 
and the queen played cards with Monsieur against Mmes. de 
Ventadour and d'Epinoy. Mme. la Dauphine arrived at half- 
past five, and they entered at an early hour into the hall of the 
ballet. The Queen of England was seated between the two 
kings in the tribune. Mmes. de Sussex, de Baucley, and de 
Montecuculli were there also with Madame de Maintenon." 
On the 1 6th of February, 1689, the opera Thetis et Pelee was 
given at Trianon. The king and the dauphine were de- 
lighted with the music, and complimented the author, Colasse. 
The operas Atys (Quinault and Lulli) and Enee et Lavinie 
(Fontenelle and Colasse) were performed more than once at 
Trianon, and during the fetes at the marriage of the Due de 
Bourgogne, in 1697, Destouches's opera Isse was given there. 
"The 17th of December (1697)," says Dangeau, "the king 
left Versailles at four o'clock to go to Trianon. He had in 
his carriage Mgr. le Due de Bourgogne and Mme. la Duchesse 
de Bourgogne. At Trianon all the court gambled until the 
arrival of the King and Queen of England. When they came, 
the king took them to the theater. When all were seated, a 
magnificent collation was served. Then the opera com- 
menced; it was Isse, with which the king was well pleased. 
The spectacle was very beautiful." 

At Marly, on the 21st of August, 1685, before supper, the 
Sicilien of Moliere was given in a temporary theater. On 
the 4th of September, 1689, in the salon of Marly, the com- 
edy-ballet of the Bourgeois Gentilhomme was performed. 

406 



The Theater 



The king was seated in the balcony, which surrounded the 
salon. Concerts became fashionable in 1700 at Marly as at 
Versailles. 

In theatrical matters, as in everything else, Madame de 
Maintenon took a hand. In 1688 she ordered Racine to 
write a tragedy for St. Cyr. At a conference between the 
king and herself and Racine on the i8th of February, the sub- 
ject chosen was Esther and Ahasuerus. Racine set to work, 
and later read his piece, act by act, to Madame de Maintenon 
and the king. The tragedy was to be acted by the girls of 
St. Cyr. Two private performances were given in the apart- 
ments of Madame de Maintenon ; and finally, on the 26th of 
January, 1689, all the court went to St. Cyr to witness the 
first representation. In Esther allusions to Madame de Main- 
tenon abounded; her elevation, her power, were plainly indi- 
cated, and escaped no one. The court could read between the 
lines. The piece had a great success. After Esther, they 
played Athalie at St. Cyr. Later came Jonathan, the author 
of which was Duche. The young actresses of St. Cyr were 
sometimes brought in the king's carriages to Versailles to re- 
cite the beautiful verses of Racine to His Majesty, always in 
the apartments of Madame de Maintenon. 

With the coming of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, the grand 
cabinet of Madame de Maintenon became a theater. The 
young duchess was fond of acting, and it suited Madame de 
Maintenon exactly to have private performances in her apart- 
ments, where she could regulate the number of spectators, 
have the king constantly at hand and pleasantly entertained, 
and all dangerous people shut out. On the 12th of January, 
1697, Esther was given, the Duchesse de Bourgogne taking 
the role of a little Israelite. On the 6th of December of the 
following year there was a little play in which the Due de 
Bourgogne represented Apollo, and the duchess and her ladies 
the nine Muses. At Fontainebleau, in the apartments of 



407 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

Madame de Maintenon, the Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne^ 
the Duchesse de Guiche, Mme. d'Heudicourt, and some others, 
gave Les Plaideurs before the king. In 1699, ^" ^^e grand 
cabinet of Madame de Maintenon at Versailles, they gave 
Les Precieuses Ridicules. " Mme. la Duchesse de Bour- 
gogne, M. le Due d' Orleans, the Comte and Comtesse d'Ayen, 
the young Comte de Noailles, and Mile, de Melun took the 
principal parts, in magnificent costumes. The old Baron, an. 
excellent actor, trained them and played with them, and some 
servants of M. de Noailles. There were but forty spectators 
— the king, Madame de Maintenon, Monseigneur, the two 
princes his sons, Mme. la Princesse de Conti, M. du Maine, 
Madame de Noailles, and some ladies of the palace ; only two 
or three courtiers. Madame de Maintenon made an invita- 
tion to these spectacles a favor much prized." ^ 

The death of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, in 1712, brought 
these diversions to an end. But the king, sad and serious, 
was then more than ever at the apartments of Madame de 
Maintenon, where nothing could fill the void left by the dis- 
appearance of the charming dauphine. Madame de Main- 
tenon organized a new theater, with the king's musicians as 
the actors, to give the plays of Moliere. He was always. 
Louis's favorite; with him the pleasures of the reign had 
been inaugurated, with him they were to close. The king, 
accustomed to the acting of Moliere himself, could not en- 
dure the players of the Comedie Frangaise, who had lost the 
tradition, and interpreted their roles badly, so badly at Fon- 
tainebleau in 1700, in L'Avare, that His Majesty rose and 
went out. In 1712 Louis himself gave to his musicians the 
manner and gestures of Moliere. They played the Bour- 
geois Gentilhomme, to the king's satisfaction, on the 21st 
of December at Versailles, in the grand cabinet of Madame de 
Maintenon. This was the first of a series of performances, 

' Saint-Simon, III, p. 340. 
408 




Jean Baptiste Poquelin, Moliere 



The Theater 



a revival of Moliere, extending through the last three years 
of the king's life. In 1713 they gave, at Versailles, the 
Bourgeois Gentilhomme in January; in February, George 
Dandin; in March, L'Avare; at Marly, in August, Le 
Medecin Malgre Lui. In 17 14, at Versailles, in January and 
February, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme ; at Fontainebleau, in 
September, L'Avare, Les Fdcheux, Le Mariage Force, and 
in October, UEtourdi and L Ecole des Maris. In 1715, at 
Versailles, in January, M. de Pourceaugnac; in March, Le 
Medecin Malgre Lui; at Marly, in May, George Dandin; in 
June, Le Medecin Malgre Lui and UEcole des Maris; in 
July, Le Mariage Force. Le Mariage Force, on the 12th of 
July, 1 71 5, was the last play seen by Louis XIV. 



409 



XVI 

THE SEAMY SIDE 

j4 MID the magnificence of Versailles there was much 
/\ discomfort. In winter people froze in those vast 

/ % salons of marble and gold. The blazing logs in 
j[ \^ the fireplaces were not sufficient to warm them, 
and there was no means at all of heating the grand gallery. 
On the 5th of March, 1695, the Palatine wrote: "It is so 
cold here that at the king's table wine as well as water froze 
in the glasses." In the terrible winter of 1709 Saint-Simon 
states that " the violence of the cold was such that the strong- 
est elixirs and the most spirituous liquors broke their bottles 
in cupboards of rooms with fires in them, in several parts of 
the Chateau of Versailles. As I was supping one evening 
with the Due de Villeroi, I saw bottles that had come from a 
well-heated kitchen, and that had been put on the chimney- 
piece of this room, so frozen that pieces of ice fell into our 
glasses as we poured from them." The king himself caught 
cold in changing his wig in his inner cabinet. Madame de 
Maintenon had a large arm-chair with a high back, top, and 
sides, to shield her from drafts, and in which she sat as in a 
sentry-box. 

For the courtiers the fatigue of standing continually has 
already been mentioned. To ride in the king's carriage on 
the court journeys did not always bring joy. " When the 
king traveled, his coach was always full of women — his 
daughters, his daughters-in-law, sometimes Madame, and 

410 



The Seamy Side 



other ladies when there was room. In the coach during his 
journeys there were always all sorts of things to eat, as meat, 
pastry, fruit. A quarter of a league was not passed over be- 
fore the king asked if somebody would not eat. He never ate 
anything between meals himself, not even fruit, but he was 
pleased by seeing others do so. You were obliged to be 
hungry, merry, and to eat with appetite; and yet after this, 
if you supped with him at table the same day, you were com- 
pelled to eat with as good a countenance as though you had 
tasted nothing since the previous night. He was as incon- 
siderate in other and more delicate matters ; and ladies, in his 
long drives and stations, had often occasion to curse him. 
The Duchesse de Chevreuse once rode all the way from Ver- 
sailles to Fontainebleau in such extremity that several times 
she was well-nigh losing consciousness. The king, who was 
fond of air, liked all the windows of the coach to be lowered. 
He would have been much displeased had any lady drawn a 
curtain for protection against sun, wind, or cold. No incon- 
venience or incommodity was allowed to be even perceived; 
and the king always went very quickly, most frequently with 
relays. To faint was a fault past hope of pardon." ^ Ma- 
dame herself mentions the inconvenience she experienced 
when driving with the king : " I have seen in traveling such 
clouds of dust that we could hardly see each other in the 
coach, and yet the king never ordered the horsemen to keep 
back." 

The king had a spy system, both at Versailles and Marly, 
that was mean and petty, but by means of it he received in- 
formation about the doings of his courtiers which appalled 
them. It gave him a mysterious omniscience. They chafed 
under a surveillance which they suspected and could not see. 
The opening of letters at the post-office was a worse evil. 
"The promptitude and dexterity with which they were 
^ Saint-Simon, III, p. i6. 
411 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

opened passes understanding. The king saw extracts from 
all the letters in which there were passages that the chiefs of 
the post-office, and the minister who governed it, thought- 
ought to go before him. Thus the chiefs of the post, nay, 
the principal clerks, were in a position to suppose what they 
pleased and against whom they pleased. A word of contempt 
against the king or the government was enough. Many peo- 
ple, justly or unjustly, were more or less ruined, and always 
without resource. The secret was impenetrable." ^ In the 
face of such a condition of abuse of power, one can under- 
stand the remark of the Palatine : " Since the time of the: 
king it has not been the custom for ladies to talk of the 
affairs of state." 

At Versailles, in spite of the polish, the dignity, and the re- 
finement of manners, there was coarseness, and human nature 
broke loose at times from beneath the weight of etiquette, and 
found relief in horse-play. Take the case of Madame Pan- 
ache. " She was a little and very old creature, with lips and 
eyes so disfigured that they were painful to look upon ; a 
species of beggar who had obtained a footing at court from 
being half-witted, who was now at the supper of the king, 
now at the dinner of Monseigneur, or at other places, where 
everybody amused themselves by tormenting her. She in 
turn abused the company, in order to cause diversion, but 
sometimes rated them very seriously and with strong words, 
which delighted still more. Some gave her a pistole or a 
crown, and others a fillip or a smack in the face, which put her 
in fury, because with her bleared eyes, not being able to see to 
the end of her nose, she could not tell who struck her. She 
was, in a word, the pastime of the court." ^ The Princesse 
d'Harcourt was another of the same type. "The Due and 
Duchesse de Bourgogne continually played off pranks upon 
her. They put, one day, fire-crackers all along the avenue at. 
^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 365. "" Idem, I, p. 98. 

412 



The Seamy Side 



Marly that led to the Perspective, where she lodged. She 
was horribly afraid of everything. The duke and duchess 
bribed two porters to be ready to take her into the mischief. 
When she was right in the middle of the avenue, the crackers 
began to go off, and she to cry aloud for mercy ; the chairmen 
set her down and ran. There she was, struggling in her 
•chair, furiously enough to upset it, and yelling like a demon. 
At this the company, that had gathered at the door of the 
chateau to see the fun, ran to her assistance, in order to have 
the pleasure of enjoying the scene more fully. Thereupon 
she set to abusing everybody right and left, commencing with 
the Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne. At another time M. de 
Bourgogne put a cracker under her chair in the salon, where 
she was playing piquet. As he was about to set fire to it, 
some charitable soul warned him that it would maim her, 
and he desisted. Sometimes, and these scenes were always at 
Marly, they sent about twenty Swiss guards with drums into 
her chamber, who roused her from her first sleep by their 
horrid din. Once they waited until very late for her to go 
to bed and to sleep. She lodged not far from the post of the 
captain of the Guards, who was at that time the Marechal de 
Lorges. It had snowed very hard and had frozen. Madame 
de Bourgogne and her suite gathered snow from the terrace 
which was on a level with their lodgings, and in order to be 
better supplied, waked up to assist them the marechal's peo- 
ple, who did not let them lack ammunition. Then, with a 
false key and lights, they slipped gently into the chamber of 
the Princesse d'Harcourt; and suddenly drawing the curtains 
of her bed, pelted her amain with snowballs. Waking up with 
a start, bruised and stifled in snow, with which even her ears 
were filled, with disheveled hair, yelling at the top of her 
voice, and wriggling like an eel, without knowing where to 
hide, she formed a spectacle that diverted people for more 
than half an hour; so that at last the nymph swam in her bed, 



413 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

from which the water flowed everywhere, skishing all the 
chamber. It was enough to make one die of laughter. On 
the morrow she sulked, and was more than ever laughed at 
for her pains." ^ Owing to her character and temper and her 
disgusting manners, no one had any respect for the Princesse 
d'Harcourt, and such scenes were, therefore, possible. 

There was less wit and agreeable conversation in the court 
of Versailles than there had been previously in that of St. 
Germain. The Palatine tells us that sometimes at the king's 
supper, although there were twenty or thirty ladies at table, 
hardly any one said a word, unless His Majesty addressed a 
remark to a particular individual. They were afraid of com- 
promising themselves. The rigidity of etiquette and the pas- 
sion for gambling at the court assemblies had also made sad 
inroads on wit and conversation. The king perceived the 
change. He tried to revive the polished and witty assemblies 
of Anne of Austria, and held a special assembly at Fontaine- 
bleau on the 24th of September, 1707. " It was magnificent," 
says the Mercure, " and all the princesses and the ladies were 
covered with jewels. Nowhere could more jewels be seen 
together." But the assembly failed to fulfil the object. 
There were more jewels than wit, and it was necessary to re- 
turn to the appartement and to play. 

And finally, in the bad years of the War of the Spanish 
Succession, disaster knocked at the door. Saint-Simon has 
painted the anxiety when Lille was besieged : " The agitation 
was extreme. The king demanded news of the siege of his 
courtiers, and could not understand why no couriers arrived. 
It was generally expected that some decisive battle had been 
fought. Each day increased the uneasiness. The princes 
and the principal noblemen of the court were with the army. 
Every one at Versailles feared for the safety of a relative or 
friend. Prayers were offered everywhere. Mme. la Duch- 

^ Saint-Simon, I, p. 257. 
414 



The Seamy Side 



esse de Bourgogne passed whole nights in the chapel, when 
people thought her in bed, and drove her women to despair. 
Following her example, ladies who had husbands at the army 
stirred not from the churches. Gaming, conversation ceased. 
Fear was painted upon every face, and perceived in every 
speech, without shame. If a horse passed a little quickly, 
everybody ran without knowing where. The apartments of 
Chamillart were crowded with lackeys, even into the street, 
sent by people desiring to be informed of the moment that a 
courier arrived ; and this terror and uncertainty lasted nearly 
a month." 

Thus at Versailles people were not always well bred, wit 
did not always sparkle, cold and care could not always be kept 
out. 



415 



XVII 
THE COURT AND PARIS 

ON no road in France was there so much travel as on 
^ that between Paris and Versailles; on no other 
i highway in Europe could so many splendid 
equipages be seen. The king, however, went 
seldom to his capital. We find him there on the 30th of Jan- 
uary, 1687, having gone to see the statue erected to him by 
the Due de la Feuillade. " His Majesty went to mass at Notre 
Dame," says Dangeau, " and did not wish to have soldiers on 
line in the streets, in order that the people might move about 
more freely. Troops were placed only at Notre Dame and at 
the Hotel de Ville, so that the carriages could approach with- 
out confusion. From Notre Dame the king went to the Hotel 
de Ville, where they gave him a magnificent dinner; there 
were fifty-five covers. All the princes of the blood, the 
king's children, and the ladies who accompanied him, dined 
with the king. The prevot des marchands served the king at 
table; his wife served Mme. la Dauphine. Never before 
had the king dined at the Hotel de Ville. The people of 
Paris displayed the greatest joy at seeing the king. All the 
shops were closed; fountains of wine ran, and there were il- 
luminations at night. On leaving the Hotel de Ville, the 
king went to the Place des Victoires, where he alighted from 
his carriage, and examined the statue erected by M. de la 
Feuillade.^ Then he drove to the Tuileries. Mme. la Dau- 

^ M. de la Feuillade was an ar- king prohibited this, remarking that 

rant sycophant. He surrounded lamps of that sort should be only 

this statue with lamps which he in churches, 
wished to burn all night. The 

416 



The Court and Paris 



phine accompanied him, and from the balcony threw money 
to the people." 

In 1 70 1 Louis XIV was at Paris on three occasions. On 
the 19th of May of that year he visited the church of Les 
Invalides ; on the 14th of July he returned to inspect the es- 
tablishment ; and on the 20th of July he went to Notre Dame 
to see the model of the altar which he wished to erect there. 
In 1702 he made the stations of the jubilee in Paris on the 
6th and 7th of April; and in 1706 he heard mass in the 
church of Les Invalides, on the 28th of August, and gave 
great and well-merited praise to Mansart. 

Monseigneur went frequently to Paris, to the Opera and to 
the fair of St. Germain. " Monseigneur had, I know not 
how," says Saint-Simon, " much endeared himself to the 
common people of Paris, and this sentiment soon gained the 
provinces." In 1701, when Monseigneur had an attack of 
apoplexy from which he came near dying, the fish-women of 
Paris sent a deputation to congratulate him on his convales- 
cence. He was at Versailles at the time. " Paris loved 
Monseigneur, perhaps because he went often to the Opera. 
The fish-fags of the Halles thought it would be proper to 
exhibit their affection, and deputed four stout gossips to wait 
upon him. They were admitted. One of them took him 
round the neck and kissed him on both cheeks ; the others 
kissed his hand. They were all very well received. Bon- 
temps showed them over the apartments, and treated them to 
a dinner. Monseigneur gave them some money, and the 
king did also. They determined not to remain in debt, and 
had a fine Te Deum sung at St. Eustache, and then feasted." ^ 

The Duchesse de Bourgogne amused herself much when 
she went to Paris. According to the Mercure, she was there 
at the fair on the i8th of August, 1698, " in a gray dress 
decked with emeralds, and wearing a splendid necklace of 

^ Saint-Simon, I, p. 206. 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

diamonds." She bought ribbons and jewels, and watched 
the dancers on the tight-rope and the marionettes. In March, 
1699, she visited the shops and bought presents for Mon- 
seigneur. Some years later she came again, during the fetes 
which followed the birth of her son. " The city gave a fire- 
work fete upon the river, that Monseigneur, the princes his 
sons, and Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne, with many ladies 
and courtiers, came to see from the windows of the Louvre." ^ 

Monsieur and Madame came sometimes to make a short 
stay at the Palais Royal, which was their town house. Their 
son, the Due de Chartres, was very fond of Paris. He could 
pursue his pleasures there much better than under the eyes of 
the king. 

The courtiers came and went continually. By day their 
heavy coaches rumbled over the cobbles on the Avenue de 
Paris ; by night the torches of their grooms lighted the white 
fronts of the houses along the road. The people of Paris 
came often to Versailles. The rich bourgeoisie had their 
own equipages. For other people there were coaches that left 
the Rue St. Nicaise twice a day for Versailles, the fare being 
twenty-five sous. In the same street also there were saddle- 
horses and post-chaises. Whenever a fete was held at Ver- 
sailles the Parisians were on hand in large numbers, and 
crowded to every point of view. 

The Grand Monarch was very willing that Paris should 
come to admire the splendors of Versailles, but he was dis- 
pleased if his courtiers showed too open an inclination for 
the capital. If any of them appeared to abandon the court for 
Paris, they incurred disgrace. The king remained through- 
out his life bitter against Paris for the riots and humiliations 
he had seen and experienced there in his youth. The un- 
pleasant associations connected with his early life there, the 
fact that whenever he rode or drove in the narrow streets of 
^Saint-Simon, I, p. 291. 
418 



The Court and Paris 



Paris he was surrounded by a crowd, and his love of hunting, 
and of walking in the open air, all combined to fix him, as 
soon as he became his own master, at St. Germain. His in- 
creasing desire to collect the nobility about him, that he might 
effectually destroy the remnants of their authority, established 
him later at Versailles. As the central figure in the new 
world of Versailles, he fascinated and awed Paris, and on 
the rare occasions when he went there, majestic in magnifi- 
cence, he produced a profound impression. 

He never lost but once his imposing and haughty attitude 
toward his capital. It was during the most critical period of 
the War of the Spanish Succession. " People remarked much 
at Fontainebleau, just as Lille was invested, that, the City of 
Paris coming to harangue the king on the occasion of the oath 
taken by Bignon, the new prevot des marchands, His Maj- 
esty replied not only with kindness, but that he made use of 
the term * gratitude for his good city,' and that in doing so he 
lost countenance,— two things which during all his reign had 
never escaped him." ^ 

^ Saint-Simon, 11, p. 39. 



419 



XVIII 
THE COURT AND THE PEOPLE 

FROM 1 66 1 to 1685, owing to the financial reforms 
of Colbert, the French peasant found his load less 
heavy. The villain tax and the salt tax had been 
reduced, and by developing the resources and in- 
dustries of the country, the minister had raised the net revenue 
from 32,000,000 livres in 1661 to 87,000,000 livres in 1683. 
But however fast Colbert might increase resources, the ex- 
penditures of the Sun King more than kept pace, amounting 
in 1683 to nearly 100,000,000 livres for the various depart- 
ments of the government. The death of Colbert and the 
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes were severe blows to com- 
mercial prosperity, and Colbert's successors could invent 
nothing but new taxes. From 1685 to 1700 the burdens of 
the people increased; from 1700 to 17 13, during the War of 
the Spanish Succession, they became so great that the 
peasants cried out in their misery. 

In 1709, " Monseigneur, arriving and returning from the 
Opera, was assailed by the populace and by women in great 
numbers, crying, ' Bread ! bread ! ' so that he was afraid, even 
in the midst of his guards, who did not dare to disperse the 
people for fear of worse happening. He got away by throw- 
ing money to the people and promising wonders ; but as the 
wonders did not follow, he no longer dared to go to Paris," * 
He met the same thing elsewhere. Dangeau tells us, on May 
^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 63. 
420 



The Court and the People 



2, 1709, that " Monseigneur, hunting the wolf, found in the 
country a crowd of peasants, and above all women, who cried 
loudly, complaining of the price of bread, which increased 
daily. Monseigneur gave money to these unfortunate peo- 
ple." " The king himself," says Saint-Simon, " from his 
windows, heard the people of Versailles crying aloud in the 
street. They uttered complaints, sharp and but little mea- 
sured, against the government." 

On the 20th of August, 1709, there was a bread riot in 
Paris. " The idle and poor had been employed to level a 
rather large hillock which remained upon the Boulevard, be- 
tween the Fortes St. Denis and St. Martin; and for all pay, 
bread in small quantities was distributed to these workers. 
It happened that on Tuesday morning, the 20th of August, 
there was no bread for a large number of these people. A 
woman amongst others cried out at this, which excited the 
rest to do likewise. The archers appointed to watch over 
these laborers threatened the woman; she only cried the 
louder; thereupon the archers seized her, and indiscreetly 
put her in an adjoining pillory. In a moment all her com- 
panions ran to her aid, pulled down the pillory, and scoured 
the streets, pillaging the bakers and pastry-cooks. One by 
one the shops closed. The disorder increased and spread 
through the neighboring streets ; no harm was done to any- 
body, but the cry was, ' Bread ! bread ! ' and bread was seized 
everywhere. It so fell out that the Marechal de Boufflers, 
who little thought what was happening, was in the neighbor- 
hood, calling upon his notary. Surprised at the fright he 
saw everywhere, and learning the cause, he wished himself to 
appease it. Accompanied by the Due de Grammont, he di- 
rected himself toward the scene of the disturbance, although 
advised not to do so. When he arrived at the top of the Rue 
St. Denis, the crowd and the tumult made him judge that it 
would be best to alight from his coach. He advanced, there- 

421 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

fore, on foot with the Due de Grammont among the furious 
and infinite crowd of people, of whom he asked the cause of 
this uproar, promised them bread, spoke his best with gentle- 
ness but firmness, and remonstrated with them. He was lis- 
tened to. Cries, several times repeated, of * Vive M. le Mare- 
chal de Bouffiers ! ' burst from the crowd. He walked thus 
with M. de Grammont all along the Rue aux Ours and the 
neighboring streets, into the very center of the sedition, in 
fact. The people begged him to represent their misery to the 
king, and to obtain for them some food. He promised this, 
and upon his word being given, all were appeased, and all dis- 
persed with thanks and fresh acclamations of ' Vive M. le 
Marechal de Boufflers ! ' He did a real service that day. 
D'Argenson had marched to the spot with troops, and had it 
not been for the marechal, blood would have been spilled, and 
things might have gone very far. M. de Boufflers had 
scarcely reached his own house in the Place Royale when he 
was informed that the sedition had broken out with even 
greater force in the Faubourg St. Antoine. He ran there 
immediately, with the Due de Grammont, and appeased it as 
he had appeased the other. He returned to his own house to 
eat a mouthful or two, and then set out for Versailles. 
Scarcely had he left the Place Royale when the people in the 
streets cried to him to have pity on them and to get them some 
bread, always with ' Vive M. le Marechal de Boufflers ! ' He 
was conducted thus as far as the quay of the Louvre. On 
arriving at Versailles, he went straight to the king, told him 
what had occurred, and was much thanked. He was even 
offered by the king the command of Paris, troops, citizens, 
police, and all ; but this he declined, Paris, as he said, having 
already a governor and proper officers to conduct its affairs. 
Immediately after, the supply of bread was carefully looked 
to. Paris was filled with patrols, perhaps with too many, 

422 




The Theatre d"Eau, Versailles 



The Court and the People 



but they succeeded so well that no fresh disturbances took 
place." 1 

If there was much destitution in Paris, there was more in 
the provinces. Taine has estimated that in 171 5 some six 
millions of people in France were perishing with hunger. 
Few passages are more often quoted, in connection with the 
peasants under the Old Regime, than those lines of La 
Bruyere : " Certain savage-looking beings, male and female, 
are seen in the country, black, livid, and sunburnt, and be- 
longing to the soil which they dig and grub with invincible 
stubbornness. They seem capable of articulation, and when 
they stand erect, they display human lineaments. They are, 
in fact, men. They retire at night into their dens, where they 
live on black bread, water, and roots. They spare other 
human beings the trouble of sowing, plowing, and harvesting, 
and thus should not be in want of the bread they have 
planted." While to a certain degree, and in certain local- 
ities, La Bruyere's words were without exaggeration, to apply 
his picture to France at large would be a serious error. There 
was misery and suffering enough among the peasants, with- 
out question, but had the majority of them been in the situa- 
tion depicted by La Bruyere, the court would have collapsed, 
and the machinery of the government would have broken 
down long before it did. From people who have nothing but 
" dens, black bread, water, and roots," no king can draw mil- 
lions of livres. Those millions the king and the nobles drew, 
and continued to draw long after Louis XIV. 

France was prosperous in 1675, but not rich enough to sup- 
port the splendor of a Sun King and make war at the same 
time. The expenditures of the Grand Monarch were very 
great, but the cost of Versailles and Marly was, after all, a 
small part of the whole. In 171 5 there was hardly a noble 
^ Saint-Simon, II, p. 64. 



423 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

family at court that was not living entirely on the king's 
money, and the cost of supporting the nobility crippled the 
king and crushed the peasants. In 1710 the poverty of the 
people came to the surface even at Versailles, and the beggars 
became so numerous in the vestibules and corridors of the 
palace that the king appointed certain Swiss guards to take 
them up and send them to the hospital. 

Louis was led away by false principles. In the prosperous 
years of Colbert's administration, the monarch reduced and 
remitted various taxes ; but having set up a huge royal estab- 
lishment, he felt bound to maintain it when the bad years 
came, and, furthermore, the situation was such that he was 
forced to maintain a large part of the nobility whether he 
would or not. When Louvois proposed a heavy measure of 
taxation, the king hesitated ; and when the minister remarked 
that it was only necessary to use a little severity, the monarch 
interrupted him by saying, " I do not wish any one to use my 
people severely." He probably did not, but they were used 
severely none the less. 

And they, burdened and oppressed, bent their backs to the 
plow, still believing that their first duty was to seek the 
splendor of Louis and his magnificence, because " the nation 
entire resided in the person of the king." 



424 



XIX 
THE END OF THE REIGN 

DURING a promenade at Marly in January, 171 5, 
I Louis XIV complained of the cold. He had 
f never done so before, not even in the bitter winter 
of 1709. In the preceding ten years the old king 
had experienced many misfortunes and many sorrows. His 
troops had met defeat after defeat at the hands of the Duke of 
Marlborough and Prince Eugene ; his prestige had been sadly 
impaired, his pride severely wounded, his finances seriously 
crippled ; placards " the most daring, the most unmeasured, 
against his person and his government," had appeared in 
Paris, pasted at night upon the gates, the churches, the 
statues ; death had struck down his son and heir, and then, in 
quick succession, his talented grandson and his beloved grand- 
daughter-in-law, the Due and Duchesse de Bourgogne, and 
their little son, the Due de Bretagne, and later the Due de 
Berry; he himself had been brought to the brink of ruin. 
But the old king, abating nothing of his stately bearing, faced 
his disasters with the firmness and dignity which had dis- 
tinguished him throughout his life; and when, at the last, it 
seemed that only a miracle could keep the enemy out of Paris, 
while his courtiers were urging him to retire to Blois, he sent 
Villars to the combat, declaring that if fortune failed, he him- 
self would rally the troops that remained, march to St. Quen- 
tin, and die King of France. Fortune, not daring, appa- 
rently, to mock him further, returned to him at Denain. 

425 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

But these things had left their stamp, hidden and heavy, 
upon that majesty which Saint-Simon termed a " terror," and 
though, at the beginning of 171 5, the Grand Monarch still 
bore his seventy-six years well, yet he complained of the 
cold. It was the first public symptom of his physical decline ; 
his loss of appetite was the second. " His appetite, which had 
always been good and uniform, very considerably dimin- 
ished," says Saint-Simon. " Even foreign countries became 
aware of this. Bets were laid in London that his life would 
not last beyond the first of September, that is to say, about 
three months, and although the king wished to know every- 
thing, it may be imagined that nobody was very eager to 
make him acquainted with this news. He used to have the 
Dutch papers read to him in private by Torcy, often after the 
council. One day as Torcy was reading, coming unexpect- 
edly, for he had not examined the paper, upon the account of 
these bets, he stopped, stammered, and skipped it. The king, 
who easily perceived this, asked him the cause of his embar- 
rassment ; what he was passing over, and why he omitted it. 
Torcy blushed to the very whites of his eyes, and said that it 
was a piece of impertinence unworthy of being read. The 
king insisted; Torcy also; but at last thoroughly confused, 
he could not resist the reiterated command he received, and 
read the whole account of the bets. The king pretended not 
to be touched by it, but he was, and profoundly, so that, on 
sitting down at dinner immediately afterward, he could not 
keep himself from speaking of it, though without mention- 
ing the gazette. This was at Marly, and by chance I was 
there that day. The king looked at me as at the others, as 
though asking for a reply. I took good care not to open my 
mouth, and lowered my eyes. Cheverny was not so prudent, 
but made a long and ill-timed rhapsody upon similar reports 
that had come to Copenhagen from Vienna while he was am- 
bassador at the former place seventeen or eighteen years be- 

426 



The End of the Reign 



fore. The king allowed him to say on, but did not take the 
bait. He appeared touched, but like a man who does not wish 
to seem so. It could be seen that he did all he could to eat, 
and to show that he ate with appetite; but it was also seen 
that the mouthfuls loitered on their way. This trifle did not 
fail to augment the circumspection of the court, above all of 
those who by their position had reason to be more attentive 
than the rest. It was reported that an aide-de-camp of Lord 
Stair, who was then English ambassador at our court, and 
very much disliked for his insolent bearing and troublesome 
ways, had caused these bets by what he had said in England 
respecting the health of the king. Stair, when told this, was 
much grieved, and said it was a scoundrel he had dis- 
missed. . . . 

" On Friday, the 9th of August, 171 5, the king hunted the 
stag after dinner, driving himself as usual. It was for the 
last time. Upon his return he appeared much knocked up. 
There was a grand concert in the evening in Madame de 
Maintenon's apartment. On Saturday, the loth of August, 
he walked before dinner in his gardens at Marly; he re- 
turned to Versailles about six o'clock in the evening, and 
never again saw that strange work of his hands. In the 
evening he worked with the chancellor in Madame de Main- 
tenon's apartment, and appeared to everybody very ill. On 
Sunday, the nth of August, he held the Council of State, 
and walked after dinner to Trianon, nevermore to go out 
again during life. On Monday, the 12th of August, he took 
medicine as usual. It was known that he complained of 
sciatica in the leg and thigh. He had never before had 
sciatica, and for a long time no touch of gout. In the evening 
there was a little concert in Madame de Maintenon's rooms. 
This was the last time in his life that he walked alone. On 
Tuesday, the 13th of August, he made a violent effort and 
gave a farewell audience to the Persian ambassador whom 

427 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

Pontchartrain had imposed upon tiim; this was the last pub- 
lic action of his life. . . . 

" For more than a year the health of the king had dimin- 
ished. His valets noticed this first, and followed the progress 
of the malady, without one of them daring to open his mouth. 
M. du Maine saw it, and Madame de Maintenon also; but 
they did nothing. Fagon, the chief physician, much fallen off 
in mind and body, was the only one of the king's intimates who 
saw nothing. Marechal, also chief physician, spoke to Fagon 
several times, but was always harshly repulsed. Pressed at 
last by his duty and his attachment, he made bold one morn- 
ing toward Whitsuntide to go to Madame de Maintenon. He 
told her what he saw and how grossly Fagon was mistaken. 
He assured her that the king, v/hose pulse he had often felt, 
had had for some time a slow internal fever; that his consti- 
tution was so good that with remedies and attention all would 
go well, but that if the malady were allowed to grow, there 
would no longer be any resource. Madame de Maintenon 
grew angry, and all he obtained for his zeal was her anger. 
She said that only the personal enemies of Fagon could find 
fault with his opinion upon the king's health, concerning 
which the capacity, the application, the experience of Fagon 
could not be deceived. The best of it is that Marechal, who 
had formerly operated upon Fagon for the stone, had been 
appointed chief surgeon by him, and they had always lived on 
the best of terms. Marechal, annoyed as he related to me, 
could do nothing more, and began from that time to lament 
the death of his master. Fagon was in fact the first physi- 
cian in Europe, but for a long time his health had not per- 
mitted him to maintain his experience, and the high point of 
authority to which his capacity and his favor had carried him 
had at last spoiled him. He would not hear reason, or sub- 
mit to reply ; and continued to treat the king as he had treated 
him in earlier years, and killed him by his obstinacy. The 

428 



The End of the Reign 



gout, of which the king had had long attacks, induced Fagon 
to swaddle him, so to say, every night in a heap of feather 
pillows, which made him sweat to such an extent that it was 
necessary in the morning to rub him down and change his 
linen before the grand chamberlain and the first gentleman of 
the Chamber could enter. For many years he had drunk 
nothing but Burgundy wine, half mixed with water. . . . 
During the last year of his life, as he became more and more 
costive, Fagon made him eat at the commencement of his re- 
pasts many iced fruits, that is to say, mulberries, melons, and 
figs, and at his dessert many other fruits. ... So much 
water and so much fruit, unconnected by anything spiritu- 
ous, turned his blood into gangrene ; while those forced night- 
sweats diminished its strength and impoverished it. And thus 
his death was caused, as was seen by the opening of his body ; 
the organs were found in such good and healthy condition 
that there is reason to believe he would have lived beyond his 
hundredth year. Remedies were not thought of until it was 
no longer time, because Fagon would never believe him ill, 
nor would Madame de Maintenon. Amidst all this, the king 
felt his state before they perceived it, and said so sometimes 
to his valets. Fagon always reassured him, but did nothing. 
The king was contented with what was said to him, without 
being persuaded; his friendship for Fagon restrained him, 
and Madame de Maintenon still more. 

" On Wednesday, the 14th of August, the king was car- 
ried to the chapel for the last time to hear mass. He held 
the Council of State, ate a meat dinner, and had music in 
Madame de Maintenon's apartments. He supped in his 
chamber, where the court saw him as at his dinner; after- 
ward he was with the royal family a short time in his cabinet, 
and went to bed a little after ten. On Thursday, the 1 5th of 
August, the Festival of the Assumption, he heard mass in his 
bed. The night had been disturbed and bad. He dined in 



429 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

his bed, the courtiers being present, rose at five o'clock, and 
was carried to Madame de Maintenon's, where there was 
music. He supped and went to bed as on the previous 
evening. As long as he could sit up he did the same. On 
Friday, the i6th of August, the night had been no better; 
much thirst and drink. The king ordered no one to enter 
until ten o'clock. Mass and dinner in his bed as before ; then 
he was carried to Madame de Maintenon's; he played cards 
with the ladies there, and afterward there was a grand con- 
cert. On Saturday, the 17th of August, the night was as 
the preceding. He held the Finance Council while in bed; 
saw people at his dinner; rose immedately after; gave 
audience in his cabinet to the general of the Order of Ste. 
Croix de la Bretonnerie; and passed to Madame de Main- 
tenon's, where he worked with the chancellor. At night 
Fagon slept for the first time in the king's chamber. Sunday, 
the i8th of August, passed like the preceding days. Fagon 
pretended that there had been no fever. The king held a 
Council of State before and after his dinner; worked after- 
ward upon the fortifications with Pelletier; then passed to 
Madame de Maintenon's, where there was music. 

" Monday, the 19th, and Tuesday, the 20th of August, 
passed much as the previous days, except that on the 20th the 
king supped in his dressing-gown, seated in an arm-chair, and 
after that evening he never left his bedchamber or dressed 
himself again. That same day Madame de Saint-Simon, 
whom I had pressed to return, came back from the waters of 
Forges. The king, entering after supper into his cabinet, per- 
ceived her. He ordered his chair to be stopped ; spoke to her 
very kindly upon her journey and her return ; then had him- 
self wheeled on by Blouin into the other cabinet. She was 
the last court lady to whom he spoke. I do not count those 
who were always near him, and who came to him when he 
could no longer leave his chamber. Madame de Saint-Simon 

430 



The End of the Reign 



said to me in the evening that she should not have recognized 
the king if she had met him anywhere else.^ Yet she had left 
Marly for Forges only on the 6th of July. On Wednesday, 
the 2 1 St of August, four physicians saw the king, but took 
care to do nothing except to praise Fagon, who gave him 
cassia. For some days it had been perceived that he ate 
meat and even bread with difficulty ; soup in larger quantity, 
very light hash, and eggs compensated him, but he ate very 
sparingly. 

" On Thursday, the 22d of August, the king was still worse. 
He saw four other physicians, who, like the first four, did 
nothing but admire the learned and admirable treatment of 
Fagon, who made him take toward evening some Jesuit bark 
and water, and intended to give him ass's milk at night. This 
same day the king ordered the Due de la Rochefoucauld to 
bring him his clothes on the morrow, in order that he might 
choose what he would wear upon leaving off the mourning he 
had worn for a son of Mme. la Duchesse de Lorraine. He 
had not been able to quit his chamber for some days ; he could 
scarcely eat anything solid; his physician slept in his cham- 
ber; and yet he reckoned upon being cured, upon dressing 
himself again, and wished to choose his dress! Meanwhile, 
let me say that the state of the king, of which nobody was 
ignorant, had already changed M. le Due d'Orleans's desert 
into a crowded city.^ 

" Friday, the 23d of August, the night was as usual, the 
morning also. The king worked with Pere Tellier, who 
tried, but in vain, to make him fill up several benefices that 
were vacant ; that is to say, Fere Tellier wished to dispose of 
them himself, instead of leaving them to M. le Due d'Orleans. 
Let me state at once that the more feeble the king grew, the 
more Fere Tellier worried him, so as not to lose such a rich 

^ The king had grown very thin ' The Due d'Orleans lodged in 
since the ist of August. the south wing of the chateau. 



431 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

prize, or miss the opportunity of securing fresh creatures for 
his service. But he could not succeed. The king declared 
that he had enough to render account of to God without 
charging himself with this nomination, and forbade Pere 
Tellier to speak again upon the subject. 

" On Saturday evening, the 24th of August, the king 
supped in his dressing-gown, in the presence of the courtiers, 
for the last time. I noticed that he could only swallow 
liquids, and that he was troubled if looked at. He could not 
finish his supper, and begged the courtiers to pass on, that is 
to say, go away. He went to bed, where his leg, on which 
were several black marks, was examined. It had grown worse 
lately and had given him much pain. He sent for Pere 
Tellier and made confession. Confusion spread among the 
doctors at this. Milk and Jesuit bark and water had been 
tried and abandoned; now nobody knew what to try. The 
doctors admitted that they believed he had had a slow fever 
since Whitsuntide, and excused themselves for doing nothing 
on the ground that he did not wish for remedies. 

" On Sunday, the 25th of August, no more mystery was 
made of the king's danger. Nevertheless, he expressly com- 
manded that nothing should be changed in the usual order of 
this day, the Fete of St. Louis ; that is to say, the drums and 
hautboys, assembled beneath his windows, should play their 
accustomed music as soon as he awoke, and that the twenty- 
four violins should play in the antechamber during his dinner. 
He worked afterward with the chancellor, who wrote under 
his dictation a codicil to his will, Madame de Maintenon 
being present. She and M. du Maine, who thought inces- 
santly of themselves, did not consider that the king had done 
enough for them by his will. They wished to remedy this by 
a codicil, which showed how enormously they abused the 
king's weakness in this extremity, and to what an excess am- 
bition carried them. By this codicil the king submitted all 

432 



The End of the Reign 



the civil and military household of the future king to the 
Due du Maine, and under his orders to the Marechal de Ville- 
roi; by this disposition, they became the sole masters of the 
person and dwelling-place of the young king, and of Paris, by 
the troops placed in their hands ; so that the regent would be 
at their mercy and without authority. Soon after the chan- 
cellor left the king, Madame de Maintenon, who remained, 
sent for the ladies, and the musicians came at seven o'clock 
in the evening. The king fell asleep during the conversation 
of the ladies. He awoke, his brain confused, which fright- 
ened them and made them call the doctors. They found his 
pulse so bad that they did not hesitate to propose to him, his 
senses having returned, to take the sacrament without delay. 
Pere Tellier was sent for; the musicians who had just pre- 
pared their books and instruments were dismissed, the ladies 
also; and in a quarter of an hour from that time the king 
made confession to Pere Tellier, the Cardinal de Rohan, 
meanwhile, bringing the Holy Sacrament from the chapel, 
and sending for the cure and holy oils. Two of the king's 
chaplains, summoned by the cardinal, came, and seven or 
eight candlesticks were carried by valets. The cardinal said 
a word or two to the king upon this great and last action, 
during which the king appeared very firm and very penetrated 
with what he was doing. As soon as he had received 
the Holy Sacrament and the holy oils, everybody left the 
chamber except Madame de Maintenon and the chancellor. 
Immediately afterward, and this was rather strange, a kind 
of book or little tablet was placed upon the bed, the codicil 
was presented to the king, and at the bottom of it he 
wrote four or five lines, and restored the document to the 
chancellor." ^ 

At this point it is best to leave Saint-Simon's account of the 
king's last days, and turn to that of Dangeau. Dangeau 
^Saint-Simon, II, pp. 343-352. 

^ 433 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

was in the royal bedchamber on several occasions between 
the 26th of August and the ist of September, but Saint- 
Simon was not. 

" Monday, the 26th of August. Toward six o'clock in the 
morning, they examined the king's leg, in which they had 
made many incisions, some even to the bone. They found 
that the gangrene had increased to such an extent as to leave 
no doubt, even in the minds of those who wished most to 
flatter themselves, that it was working within, and that no 
remedy could avail. Madame de Maintenon was alone in the 
chamber, and on her knees at the foot of the bed, while they 
examined His Majesty. After the examination the king said 
that, since no remedy could save him, he demanded at least 
that he be allowed to die in peace. At noon His Majesty had 
the little dauphin brought into his chamber, and after em- 
bracing him, he said ' My darling, you are going to be a great 
king, but all your happiness will depend upon your submission 
to God and the care you take to succor your people. To at- 
tain that, avoid making war ; that is the ruin of peoples. Do 
not follow the bad example I have given you in that respect. 
I have entered into war too lightly, and sustained it through 
vanity. Do not imitate me, but be a pacific prince, and let 
your chief work be to succor your subjects. Profit by the 
good education that Mme. la Duchesse de Ventadour gives 
you, obey her, and follow always, in order to serve God well, 
the counsels of Pere Le Tellier, whom I give you for con- 
fessor.' 

" ' As for you, madame,' he said to Madame de Ventadour, 
' I thank you greatly for the care with which you have reared 
this child, and for the tender regard you have for him. I pray 
you to continue it, and I urge him to give you all possible 
marks of his gratitude.' Then he embraced the dauphin 
twice, and weeping, gave him his benediction. The little 
prince was carried away weeping by his governess, the 

434 



The End of the Reign 



Duchesse de Ventadour; and this touching spectacle moved 
us all to tears. 

" A moment after, the king sent for the Due du Maine and 
the Comte de Toulouse, and spoke to them with closed doors. 
He did the same with the Due d'Orleans, whom he had sum- 
moned from his apartment. At the moment that the prince 
was leaving the chamber, the king called him back for the 
second time. 

" At half-past twelve the king heard mass in his chamber, 
with the same attention with which he heard it always, his 
eyes always open, and praying God with supreme earnestness. 
As the mass was about to begin, His Majesty called the Mar- 
quis de Torcy, Minister of State, and said a word to him. At 
the conclusion of the mass, he made the Cardinal de Rohan 
and the Cardinal de Bissy approach, and spoke to them for 
about a minute ; and having finished with them, he spoke in a 
louder tone to all his officers who were in the riielle or before 
the balustrade. We all approached his bed, and he said to us : 
' Gentlemen, I thank you for your services. You have served 
me faithfully and sought to please me. I am sorry that I 
have not been able to recompense you better ; the misfortunes 
of the last years have not permitted it. I leave you with 
regret. Serve the dauphin with the same affection with 
which you have served me. He is a child of five years, who 
may meet with reverses, because I remember having had to 
undergo much in my youth. I go, but the state lives always. 
Be faithful, and let your example be one for all my other sub- 
jects. Be united and in accord — that is the union and force 
of a state ; and follow the orders which my nephew will give 
you. He is to govern the kingdom; I hope he will govern 
it well. I hope also that you will do your duty, and that you 
will sometimes remember me.' At these last words we were 
all in tears, and nothing was heard but sobs. His voice was 
not at all broken, and only slightly less strong than usual. 



435 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

He sent then for the Due d' Orleans, who asked those near 
him to leave the chamber, of whom I was one, and recom- 
mended Madame de Maintenon to him; and His Majesty 
afterward summoned Madame and all the princesses, who 
were followed by their ladies of honor. They were there but 
a moment, and I do not understand how the king was able to 
endure their lamentations and the cries that they made.^ 

" One must have seen the last moments of this great king 
to understand the Christian firmness and heroism with which 
he sustained the approach of death, that he knew was near 
and inevitable. Since eight o'clock this morning there has 
not been a moment when he has not done some action, illus- 
trious, pious, or heroic, not as the ancient Romans who af- 
fected to brave death, but with a natural manner, as in the 
most ordinary actions of life, speaking to each only of those 
things pertaining to him, and with that eloquence that he had 
had always, and which appeared to be increased in his last 
hours. In short, however great he has been in the course 
of his glorious reign of seventy-two years, he seems still 
greater in his death. His presence of mind and his firmness 
have not left him for a moment, and in speaking with good- 
ness and kindness to all to whom he wished to speak, he has 
preserved all his grandeur and majesty even to his last sigh. 

" At two o'clock, Madame de Maintenon being alone in the 
king's chamber. His Majesty summoned the chancellor, and 
had him open his caskets and burn certain of his papers, and 
gave orders regarding others with the same presence of mind 
with which he was wont to give orders at the council. This 
work lasted about two hours. At six o'clock he had the 
chancellor return, and, in the presence of Madame de Main- 
tenon, worked with him for about half an hour. ... At ten 

^"They retired by the cabinet, dead; and indeed the rumor spread 

weeping and crying very loudly, to Paris, and even to the prov- 

which caused some people to be- inces." Saint-Simon, 
lieve outside that the king was 




Louis XIV in 1706 



The End of the Reign 



in the evening they examined His Majesty's leg, and found 
that the gangrene had made no further progress since morn- 
ing, and that the leg seemed even slightly better; and as the 
king's strength had appeared to return during the afternoon, 
a ray of hope came to those who wished to flatter themselves, 
but those who listened to reason had none. 

"Tuesday evening, August 27th. The king's condition has 
been all day much the same as that of yesterday. His Maj- 
esty grows weaker, and has had some moments of uncon- 
sciousness. ... In the afternoon, toward evening, he had 
Pere Le Tellier summon the Comte de Pontchartrain, Secre- 
tary of State, to whom he said : * As soon as I am dead, you 
will give the orders to have my heart taken to the Grand 
Jesuits, and placed there in the same manner as that of the 
late king, my father. I do not wish that there should be much 
expense.' He gave this order with the same tranquillity with 
which, in health, he would have ordered a fountain for Ver- 
sailles or Marly. He had given orders in the morning that 
as soon as he was dead they should take the dauphin to 
Vincennes, and as the grand marshal of lodgings had never 
assigned the apartments in that chateau, where the court had 
not been for more than fifty years, His Majesty ordered them 
to take a plan of Vincennes from a place that he indicated, 
and give it to the grand marshal of lodgings to assist him in 
his work. In the evening the king said to Madame de Main- 
tenon : * I have always heard that it is difficult to die. As for 
myself, since I am now almost at that moment so formidable 
to men, I do not find that it will be difficult.' Certainly there 
are few examples where a man has faced death for so long a 
time with equal coolness and courage. 

" Wednesday evening, August 28th. The night of the 
king has been like the preceding. At seven in the morning, 
he sent for Pere Le Tellier, who had just left the bedchamber. 
This made great commotion in the chateau, for every one 

437 



Versailles and the Court under Louis XIV 

thought that the king was in extremity. At that moment, 
seeing in one of the mirrors two of the gargons of the Cham- 
ber, who were weeping at the foot of the bed, the king said to 
them : ' Why do you weep ? Is it because you thought me 
immortal? I have never beHeved myself to be so, and con- 
sidering my age, you should have been prepared for a long 
time to lose me.' . . . 

" Thursday, August 29th. They continued last night and 
to-day to give the king, every eight hours, the remedy of 
Brun,^ whom they even brought into the bedchamber with the 
other doctors, each time that the king took it. It appeared 
for a short time that the elixir gave the king more strength ; 
and as many people here are extreme in everything, above all 
the women, they looked upon Brun as a sort of angel sent 
from heaven to save the king, and wished to throw all the 
court doctors into the river. . . . 

" Friday, August 30th. The king has been all day in 
drowsiness and with little consciousness. When his leg was 
examined this evening, they found that the gangrene had 
spread from the knee into the thigh. The king's constitu- 
tion is so good that he still fights against death. He took ice, 
and drank water from time to time. In drinking he said 
some words, but so indistinctly that they could not be under- 
stood. Madame de Maintenon left at five o'clock for St. Cyr, 
never to return. . . . 

" Saturday evening, August 31st. The king has been 
without consciousness nearly always throughout the day. 
His lucid moments have been very short, and his conscious- 
ness more mechanical than anything else. From the few 
words he has spoken, he has appeared impatient at not seeing 
the end of his long agony. The gangrene continues to make 

^"A rustic heard of the extrem- would cure the gangrene." Saint- 
ity of the king, and came to Ver- Simon, 
sailles with a remedy which he said 



The End of the Reign 



progress, and yet death does not come to finish the work of 
destruction, so great is the force of his constitution. 

" Sunday, September ist, 171 5. The king died this morn- 
ing at a quarter past eight. He gave up his soul without any 
effort, as a candle that goes out." ^ 

On the 9th of September, after vespers, the body of Louis 
XIV, which had been lying in state in the salon of Mercury, 
was placed in a coffin, and borne to the royal courtyard, 
where the funeral car, draped in black and silver, stood 
ready. The officers of the Household moved in the glare of 
the torches; the horses and the grooms of the Stables were 
half hidden in the gloom. An order or two; a clatter of 
hoofs ; a responsive rumble of wheels ; and the Grand Monarch 
was gone. 

In such fashion the Sun King disappeared in the darkness, 
and with him ended the ideals and aspirations of an Age. 
He stood for the Seventeenth Century. But a new Century 
had come, smiling, mocking, skeptical, doubting all things, 
even the divinity of a king. 

^ Dangeau, II. 



439 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Abundance, salon of, i6 

Agates, cabinet of, 41 

Albe, Due d', 286 

Anjou, Philippe, Due d', 15, 20, 47, 
272; his personal appearance and 
character, 294-296; 375, zil, 382, 

383 

Anne of Austria, 120, 184, 302 
Antechamber, of the queen, 31 ; of 

the king, 35 
Apollo, salon of, 20, 21 ; basin of, 

88; baths of, 94-96 
Appartement, 17, 20, 344, 364-366, 

414 
Arch of Triumph, bosquet of, 93, 94 
Armagnac, Madame d', 223 
Aubigne, Comte d', 228 
Audran, Claude (painter), 19 
Aumont, M. d', 397 

Balin, Claude, 50 

Ballon, Siei:r, 84 

Barbezieux, M. de, 182 

Baron (actor), 288 

Baths, apartments of the, 51 

Battles, Gallery of, 48 

Bavaria, Dauphine of, 26, 48, 49, 

254, 272, 273-276, 393 
Beauvilliers, Due de, 167, 281, 340, 

356, 374 
Bedchamber, of the queen, 26; of 

Louis XIV, 36-39 
Bellefonds, Marechal de, 124 
Benoist, Antoine (sculptor), 39 
Beringhen, Marquis de, 69 
Bernard, Samuel, 199 
Bernin (sculptor), 18 
Berry, Charles, Due de, 15, 47, 'j^i, 

156, 253, 258, 264, 268, 272, 284, 

295 ; his personal appearance and 

character, 297-301 ; 370, 375, Z11, 

382, 383, 38s, 425 
Berry, Duchesse de, 174, 17S, 258, 

263, 264, 269, 292, 300, 301, 402 
Blainville, Marquis de, 374, 2>17 
Blanchard, Jacques, 18 



Bloin, 239 

Boileau, Abbe, 361 

Bontemps (first valet of the king), 
149, 200, 231 

Bossuet, J. B., 206, 249 

Bouche du Roi, service of, 58-66 

Boufflers, Marechal de, 191, 340, 
421-422 

Bouillon, Cardinal de, 340 

Boule, Andre, 41, 50 

Bourbon, Due de, 50, 339, 375 

Bourbon, Duchesse de; see Mile, de 
Nantes 

Bourbon, Grand (orange tree), 100 

Bourbon, Henri Jules de, 339, 375 

Bourdaloue, Pere, 56, 362, 370 

Bourgogne, Louis, Due de, 15, 47, 
48, III, 156, 174, 255, 258, 264, 
268, 271 ; his birth and character, 
272-278; 281, 282, 284, 286, 292, 
293. 295, 369, 372; fetes at his 
marriage, 374-384; 385- 39i, 406 

Bourgogne, Marie Adelaide, Du- 
chesse de, 15, 26, 27, 32, 57, 76, 
90 ; at the Menagerie, 103-105 ; at 
Trianon, iii, 112; at Marly, 133, 
136, 137; 174, 175, 211, 212, 239, 
244, 245, 255, 258, 264, 266, 269, 
271 ; her personal appearance and 
character, 279-293; 311, 349, 359, 
370 ; fetes at her marriage, 374- 
384; 386, 390, 391-393. 406, 407, 
408, 412, 413, 415, 417, 418 

Boyceau, 81 

Brionne, Comte de, 71 

Brissac, Major of the Body-Guards, 
10, 362 

Brun, 438 

Buildings, superintendent of, 152 

Bureau du Roi, 61 

Cabinet, service of the, 150 
Caffieri, Jacques, 14, 23, 39 
Cassel, battle of, 304 
Cent-Suisses, 9, 10, 31. 34, 401 
Chamber, service of the, 148 



443 



Index 

Chamillart, M. de, 35, 41, 218, 239 Despatches, Council of, 181 

Chapel, description of the, 54-56; Despreaux, 197 

service of the, 151, 152 Destouches (musician), 406 

Chartres, Philippe, Due de, 50, 141- Diana, salon of, 18; cabinet of, 88 

143, 248, 265, 266, 297, 298, 299, Dorbay, 13 

300, 301, 304, 305, 306, 308, 311, Dubois, Abbe, 321 

312, 313, 317, 318; his personal Duras, M. de, 217, 340, 350, 396 

appearance and character, 321- Dussieux, 43, 292 

325; 326, 327, 334, 360, 363, 375, Duval (sculptor), 92 
Z71, 382, 384, 402, 418, 435, 436 

Chartres, Mile, de Blois, Duchesse Elboeuf, Due d', 340 

de, 175, 259, 265, 269, 305, 316, Espinoy, Madame d', 252 

Z^7^ Z'^'Z; her personal appear- Etiquette, at Marly, 135, 136, 188 p 
ance and character, 325-327; 329, at Versailles, 220-224, 352-354 
330, 376, zn, 382, 384 

Chouin, Mile, de, 254, 257, 263 Fagon, M. (doctor of the king),. 

Clagny, Chateau of, 5, 116 I49> 169, 170, 260, 262, 292, 428,, 

Clement, M., 275, 286 429, 431 

Clement X, Pope, 98 Fenelon, 277 

Clocks, salon of, 41 Fetes, at Versailles, 120-127, 374~ 

Coislin, Cardinal de, 281, 376 394 

Coislin, Due de, 358 Feuillade, Mareehal de la, 99, 416 

Colbert, J. B., 4, 5, 84, 181, 216, 246, Fiesque, Comtesse de, 341 

420 Finance, Council of, 181 

Colonnade, 97, 98 Fleury, Cardinal, 133 

Conde, Louis de Bourbon, Prince Fontanges, Mile, de, 214 

de, 14, 127 Fouquet, M. de, 4, 81, loi 

Conde, Mile, de, 376 France, Children of, 47, 272 

Conti, Prince de, 250, 339, 369 Francine, Pierre de, 84 

Conti, Mile, de Blois, La Grande Fronsac, Due de, 359 

Prineesse de, 175, 251, 261, 262, Fruit-loft, 61 

328, 329, 330, 331, 376, 378, 382, Furstemberg, Cardinal de, 45 

384. . 

Corneille, Michel, 27 Gabriel (architect), 8 

Corpus Christi, ceremony of, 400 Gallery, grand, 23-25 ; little, 41 ; of 
Cotte, Robert de, 55 Louis XIII, 49 

Coueher, grand, 176-178; petit, 178, Gambling, at court, 366-370 

179 Genoa, Doge of, 25, loi, 198; his- 
' Council, Hall of the, 39 reception at Versailles, 395-397 

Courtenvaux, M. de, 194, 195 Gerome, J. L. (painter), 14 

Coustou (sculptor), 132 Gesvres, Due de, 340 

Couvert, grand, 31, 32, 66; petit, Gesvres, Duchesse de, 330 

31, 39 Girardon (sculptor), 91 

Coypel, 32, 55 Glapion, Madame de, 239, 241 

Coyzevox (sculptor), 22, 23, 87, 93, Grammont, Due de, 422 

132 Grand cabinet of the queen, 27 

Crequi, Due de, 123 Grand canal, 89, 90 

Grand Commun, 58-66. 

Dangeau, Marquis de, 47, 134, 366, Guards, Hall of the Queen's, 32; 

Z^i"?, 368, 374 Hall of the King's, 34; Grand 

Delafosse, Charles, 21, 55 Hall of the, 46 ; captain of the, 52- 

Delobel, 7, 11, 13, "^2, 

Denain, battle of, 211, 296, 425 Harcourt, Prince d', 341 

Desjardins, Martin, 88 Harcourt, Prineesse d', 358, 359, 412,. 
Desmarets, M. de, 199 413 

444 



Index 



Harlay, Pres. of Parliament, 341 
Henriette d'Angleterre, 303 
Hercules, salon of, 16 
Houasse (painter), 17, 19 
Hunting-Train, 74-78 

James II of England, 49, 71, 373, 

378, 384, 406 
Jewels, cabinet of, 41 
Journeys, of the court, 153, 345 
Jouvenet, Jean (painter), 19, 55 

Keller, 87 

Kennels, 74-78 

King, service of the, 147-153 

King's evil, touching for the, 400 

King's Meat, 63 

Kitchen-Garden, loi, 102 

La Bruyere, 56, 339, 361, 423 

La Chaise, Pere, 42, 193, 209, 231, 

293 

La Fontaine, 205 

Langlee, M. de, 341, 366 

Langlois, 92 

La Marck, Comtesse de, 341 

La Quintinie, Jean, loi, 102 

Latona, fountain and parterre of, 
88 

Lauzun, Due de, 196, 340, 360 

La Vrilliere, M. de, 351 

Lebrun, Charles (painter), 22, 23, 
25, 86, 93 

Lemercier (architect), 3, 81 

Lemoine (painter), 25 

Le Notre, Andre, 81-83, 87, 92, 98, 
99, 108 

Levau (architect), 4, S, 13 

Lever, of the king, 36, 38; grand, 
159-164; petit, 158, 159 

Livry, M. de, 201 

Lorges, Marechal de, 252 

Lorraine, Prince de, 394 

Louis XIII, 4, 9, II, 36, 184, 302 

Louis XIV, his first visit to Ver- 
sailles, 3 ; builds Versailles, 4, 5 ; 
establishes himself at Versailles, 
6; inspects his troops, 10; adores 
the cross, 15 ; sends his silver 
furniture to the mint, 25 ; dines 
with the queen, 31 ; changes his 
wig, 40 ; plays billiards, 41 ; visits 
his cabinet of Medals, 42 ; works 
in the apartments of Madame de 
Maintenon, 44 ; brings James II 



to apartments of Monseigneur, 
49; addresses Massillon, 56; 
ceremony of his public dinner, 
61-66 ; visits his stables, 69 ; goes 
to the hunt, 76; addresses Le 
Notre, 82 ; sails on the canal, 90 ; 
visits the Salle de Bal, 97 ; visits 
the Colonnade, 98 ; walks in the 
Kitchen-Garden, 102 ; visits the 
Menagerie, 105 ; finds fault with 
Louvois, 107, 108; amuses him- 
self at Trianon, 11 1 ; gives fetes, 
120-127; his life at Marly, 133- 
137; his daily life at Versailles, 
154-179; his method of work, 
180-183 j his personal appear- 
ance and character, 184-219; 
marries Madame de Maintenon, 
231 ; works in the apartments of 
Madame de Maintenon, 235-237 ; 
his interview with Louvois, 242, 
243 ; shows Madame de Mainte- 
non the camp at Compiegne, 
244-246 ; his Memoirs, 249 ; is at 
the death of Monseigneur, 261- 
263; is at the birth of the Due 
de Bourgogne, 273-276 ; meets the 
Duchesse de Bourgogne, 279; his 
affection for her, 283 ; is at the 
birth of the Due de Bretagne, 
285-287 ; proclaims the Due 
d'Anjou King of Spain, 295; his 
quarrel with Monsieur, 305-307 ; 
is at the death of Monsieur, 310- 
312; makes a will in favor of M. 
du Maine, 332-334; mechanism of 
his life, 349-351 ; his manners and 
morals, 355-357 ; is at the mar- 
riage of the Due de Bourgogne, 
375-384; receives the Doge of 
Genoa, 395-397 ; receives the am- 
bassadors of Siam, 397, 398 ; 
washes the feet of the poor, 398, 
399 ; receives the ambassador of 
Persia, 401-403 ; revives the plays 
of Moliere, 408; goes to Paris, 
416, 417 ; his illness and death, 

425-439 
Louis XV, 14, 25, 26, 40, 49, 288, 402, 

434 
Louis XVI, 40, 50 
Louis Philippe, 26, 34, 38, 43, 49 
Louvois, Frangois (Minister of 

War), 107-109, 181, 192, 208, 231, 

242, 243, 246, 424 



445 



Index 



Louvre, honors of the, 7 

Luchet, 7 

Lulli (musician), 120, 121, 125, 405, 

406 
Luxembourg, M. de, 209, 340, 389 
Lyonne, Abbe de, 397 

Mailly, Comtesse de, 340, 351 

Maine, Due du, 52, 75, 156, 175, 193, 
228, 331, 332-334, 375, 378, 428, 
432 

Maine, Duchesse du, 335 

Maintenon, Madame de, _ 31, 32 ; 
her apartments at Versailles, 43- 
45; 52, 54- 56, 107; her apart- 
ments at Trianon, no; 112, 131, 
134, 137, 139, 173, 182, 192, 193, 
203, 204, 208, 212, 214, 224; her 
personal appearance and charac- 
ter, 227-248; 257, 258, 262, 266, 
279, 280, 289, 292, 301, 310, 311, 
312, 313, 316, 320, 324, 32s, 331- 
335, 344, 357, 407, 4o8, 410, 428, 
429, 432, 433, 436, 438 

Maison du Roi, service of, 58-66 

Maison Militaire, 9, 10 

Mansart, J. H. (architect), 5, 55, 

67, 98, 99 

Marble court, 11, 12, 40 

Marie Antoinette, 26, 27, 32, 49, 50, 
404 

Marie Leczinska, 26, 32 

Marie Therese, 18, 26, 27; her 
character, 28 ; her death, 29-31 ; 
her household, 32; 120, 230, 357 

Marly, machine of, 85, 116; descrip- 
tion of, 128-134; court life at, 
134-140; destruction of, 140-144 

Mars, salon of, 19 

Marsy (sculptor), 88 

Massillon, Pere, 56, 362 

Mazarin, Cardinal, 23, 25, 117, 180, 
188 

Mazeline (sculptor), 93 

Mecklenbourg, Christian Louis of, 
356 

Medals, cabinet of, 42 

Menagerie, 103-105, 284 

Mercury, salon of, 19, 20 

Michu, 55 

Mignard, Pierre (painter), 42, 50, 



Monseigneur, Louis of France 
(Grand Dauphin), 15; his apart- 
ments at Versailles, 49, 50; 69, 97, 
109, 130, 156, 237; his personal 
appearance and character, 249- 
271; 272, 274, 281, 285, 309, 328, 
330, 350, 368, 369, 375, 376, ZT7, 
380, 385, 387,. 393, 417, 420, 421 

Montauban, Princesse de, 299 

Montbron, M. de, 371 

Montchevreuil, 231 

Montespan, Marquise de, 26, 30, 42, 
52, 95, 106, 123, 229, 232, 233, 328, 
344, 357, 366 

Montesquieu, 22 

Montpensier, La Grande Mile, de, 
188, 349 

Mothe, Marechale de la, 47, 169, 
272, 287 

Nantes, Mile, de, 228, 328-330, 370, 

376, 378, 382, 388 
Nantes, Revocation of Edict of, 

203, 238, 246, 420 
Napoleon L 46, no, 144, 183 
Nemours, Duchesse de, 340 
Neptune, basin of, 92 
Noailles, Cardinal de, 56 
Noailles, Due de, 141, 291 
Nobility, at Versailles, 336-341 
Nocret, 36 
Nolhac, Pierre de, 50 

CEil-de-Boeuf, 35, 36 

Orange, Prince of, 209, 304 

Orangery, 99, 100 

Orleans, Bishop of, 340 

Orleans, Elizabeth Charlotte, Du- 
chesse d', 76, 132, 136, 198, 231, 
288 ; her personal appearance and 
character, 313-320; 356, 368, ZIZ, 
376, Z77, 382, 384, 391, 411, 418 

Orleans, Philippe, Due d', 130, 156, 
168, 175, 187, 222, 237; his per- 
sonal appearance and character, 
302-313; 315, 317, 318, 321, 330, 
368, 375, 376, il7, 382, 396, 418 

Orleans, Philippe, Due d' (regent) ; 
see Philippe, Due de Chartres 

Orleans, Mile, de Blois, Duchesse 
d' ; see Duchesse de Chartres 



Ministers, court of the, 8 Pages, royal, 72, 7z 

Moliere, Jean Baptiste (dramatist). Panache, Madame, 412 
12, 120-127, 205, 408, 409 Parterre du Midi, 96 

446 



Index 



Parterre du Nord, 91 

Peace, salon of, 25 

Pecourt (dancer), 405 

Pellisson, 180 

Perrault (architect), 91 

Peter the Great of Russia, 248 

Plumartin, Marquis de, 394 

Pontchartrain, M. de, 182, 401 

Pontchartrain, Madame de, 390-393 

Pont du Jour, cabinet of, 88 

Poverty, in Paris and the provinces, 

421-423 
Provence, Comte de, 50 
Puysieux, M. de, 341 

Quartermaster's Department, 61 
Quentin (barber of the king), 40, 

159 
Quinault (musician), 125, 126, 405, 
406 

Racine, 48, 134, 150, 227, 407 

Rainsant, 42 

Richelieu, Cardinal, 117 

Rigaud, H. (painter), 18 

Robert, H., 95 

Rochefort, Marechale de, 340 

Rochefoucauld, M. de la, 74, 75, 

114, 212, 213, 340, 346 
Rose (secretary of the king), 150, 

RouUes, Pierre, 205 

Sagniel, 143, 144 

Saint-Aignan, Due de, 298 

Saint-Simon, Due de, 47, 98, 130, 
141-143, 200-202, 212-214, 255- 
270, 297-300 ; his character, 341- 
343; 410, 426, 428, 430, 432 

Saint-Simon, Madame de, 222, 223, 
282, 299, 348, 430 

Salle de Bal, 97 

Savoy, Duke of, 279 

Seneffe, battle of, 127 

Seve, Gilbert de, 26 

Sevigne, Madame de, 6, 366, 367 

Shopkeepers, salon of, 46 

Siam, ambassadors of, 69, 81, loi ; 
their reception at Versailles, 397, 
398 

Soanen, Pere, 56, 362 

Soubise, Madame de, 214 

Sourches, Marquis de, 398 

Spain, Infanta of, 26 



Spanheim, 185 

Spanish Succession, War of the, 296 

Stables, royal, 67-73 

Staircase, ambassadors', 13, 14; 

marble, ^^ 
State, Council of, 8, 181 
St. Cyr, school of, 241, 242 
St. Esprit, ceremony of, 400 
St. Leger, stud of, 68 

Tellier, Pere, 207, 258, 431 

Thetis, Grotto of, 95 

Three Fountains, bosquet of, 93 

Torcy, Marquis de, 223 

Torcy, Marquis de, 426, 435 

Toulouse, Comte de, 52, 74, 75, 156, 

175, 335 
Toulouse, Comtesse de, 335 
Trianon, 106-112 
Trou-madame, 19 
Tuby, 23, 87, 93 

Ursins, Princesse des, 137-140, 247 

Valliere, Louise, Duchesse de la, 

120, 123, 125, 214, 328, 344, 357 
Van der Meulen (painter), 14 
Vardes, M. de, 337 
Vauban, M. de, 84, 208 
Vaux, Chateau of, 4, 81 
Vendome, M. de, 41, 75, 340 
Ventadour, Madame de, 142, 402, 

434 

Venus, salon of, 17 

Vermandois, Comte de, 30, 328 

Versailles, construction and build- 
ings of, s-^ ; courtyards of, 7-12 ; 
apartments of, 13-53 J dependen- 
cies of, 58-78 ; gardens of, 81-100 ; 
parks of, 113, 114; cost of, 115, 
116; meaning of, 117-119 

Vigarani, 124 

Villars, Marechal de, 141, 211, 296, 

425 
Villeroi, Due de, 142, 340, 410 
Villeroi, M. de, 3, 41 
Villiers, 197 
Vivonne, Marechal de, 232 

War, salon of, 22 

Wardrobe, service of the, 52, 151 

Wigs, cabinet of, 40 

Zinzendorf, Comte de, 295 



447 



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